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OF THE BI 







LOUISE JA. PLEASANTON 



I 



A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 




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HEN PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER OPENED THE BASKET, THERE LAY A CRYING BABY 



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A NURSERY STORY 
OF THE BIBLE 



BY 



LOUISE M. PLEASANTON 



WITH TWELVE COLORED AND TEN 
BLACK-AND-WHITE ILLUSTRATIONS BY 

FLORENCE CHOATE 

AND 

ELIZABETH CURTIS 




NEW YORK 

FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 



Copyright^ ig20, by 
Frederick A. Stokes Company 



All Rights Reserved 



OCT 25 1920 
L 

©CI.A601016 







LOVINGLY DEDICATED 
TO MY LITTLE SONS 

ARCHIE AND DOUGLAS 

AND TO 
FREDERICK HOLLAND 



i 



CONTENTS 



THE OLD TESTAMENT 

CHAPTEB PAGE 

I The Creation i 

II The Garden of Eden 4 

III The Story of Cain and Abel 7 

IV Noah's Ark 9 

V The Tower of Babel . . 13 

VI The Story of Hagar 15 

VII Abraham's Offering -17 

VIII Isaac and Rebekah . . 19 

IX The Story of Joseph 22 

X Joseph in Egypt 25 

XI Moses in the Bulrushes 32 

XII Moses Leads the People Through the Red Sea 34 

XIII God Makes Water Spring from a Rock . . 37 

XIV The Spies Sent Out ........ 41 

XV The Fall of Jericho 43 

XVI The Story of Samson 45 

XVII Samson and Delilah 49 

XVIII The Story of Ruth 51 

XIX The Story of a Little Boy Who Served in the 

Temple 54 

XX Saul Is Made King 58 

XXI The Story OF David . .> . 61 

XXII David and Goliath 63 

XXIII David and Jonathan 65 

XXIV David and Jonathan Part ... ., . . . 68 
XXV The Story of a Wise King ...... 71 

XXVI King Solomon Builds a Temple 73 

XXVII The Story of Elijah 76 



CHAPTER 

XXVIII 

XXIX 

XXX 

XXXI 

XXXII 

XXXIII 



XXXIV 

XXXV 

XXXVI 

XXXVII 

XXXVIII 

XXXIX 

XL 

XLI 

XLII 

XLIII 

XLIV 

XLV 

XLVI 

XLVII 

XLVIII 

XLIX 

L 

LI 

LII 

LIII 

LIV 

LV 

LVI 

LVII 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Elijah Goes to Heaven in a Chariot of Fire . 79 

The Story of Queen Esther 81 

The Story of Daniel . 86 

Belshazzar's Feast 91 

Daniel in the Lions' Den 93 

The Story of Jonah 95 

THE NEW^ TESTAMENT 

While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks . loi 

Mary Names Her Baby Jesus 104 

The Story of the Three Wise Men . . .105 

The Flight into Egypt 107 

Christ Talks with the Priests in the Temple 109 

Jesus Is Baptized .112 

The Sermon on the Mount 114 

The Story of Five Loaves and Two Fishes . 117 

Jesus Walks ON THE Water 119 

The Little Daughter OF J AiRUS . ,. . . ,.121 

Jesus Is Transfigured 122 

The Story of the Good Samaritan . . .124 
The Story of the Prodigal Son . . . .126 

The Story of Lazarus 130 

Ten Lepers Are Healed 133 

Jesus Blesses the Little Children .... 135 
The Story of the First Palm Sunday . .136 

The Last Supper 139 

In the Garden of Gethsemane 142 

God's Son Is Questioned by the High Priest . 145 
They Crucify Him Under Pontius Pilate . 147 

^The Lord Is Risen'' 150 

The Walk to Emmaus '153 

Jesus Returns to His Father . .... .155 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

When Pharaoh's daughter opened the basket, there lay a crying baby (in 

colors) Frontispiece 

PAGE 

The serpent went on coaxing and arguing till finally Eve was persuaded ... 5 

The word of the Lord came to Noah telling him to go forth out of the ark with 

everything that was in it II 

Hagar, not knowing which way to go, wandered about first one way and then 

another {in colors) Facing i6 

Rebekah, young and beautiful, came out of the city gate and went down to the 

well {in colors) Facing 20 

Behold there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, 

and there shall arise after them seven years of famine {in colors) . . Facing 26 

Wifeh the blood of the lamb each man was to make a mark, that the angel of 

death might pass over every house so marked {in colors) .... Facing 36 

The sons of Levi went ahead and carried the ark in the journey through the 

wilderness 40 

Samson, seizing the Hon in his strong arms, killed him as easily as he would a 

mouse 46 

Ruth worked diligently until evening fell {in colors) Facing 52 

"What is the thing that the Lord hath said unto thee?" demanded Eli . . . 57 

David with Goliath's own sword cut off the Philistine's head {in colors) Facing 64 

When the Queen of Sheba came to visit Solomon, she was astonished at his 

magnificence {in colors) . Facing 74 

Elijah dwelt alone in the wilderness. The ravens brought him food and he drank 

the water of the brook 77 

As soon as the king saw her he chose her as his queen {in colors) . . . Facing 82 

Jonah was given another chance, for a great fish swallowed him, and for three 

days he was alive within the fish 97 

**Let us go now," they said, "even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is 

come to pass" {in colors) Facing 102 

An angel spoke to Joseph and told him to go at once down Into Egypt with his 

wife and baby, for Herod would do his best to kill this new-born Jesus . . 108 

The Prodigal Son was sent into the field to feed the swine 127 

''Sufifer the little children to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of God" 

{in colors) Facing 134 

Straight to Jesus went Judas. ''Master, Master," he exclaimed as If glad to see 

him, and kissed him 144 

When they came to the tomb, the stone was already rolled back, and in Its place 
an angel whose countenance was like lightning and his raiment white as 
snow {in colors) Facing 150 



THE OLD TESTAMENT 



A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 



THE CREATION 

IT all happened in the very beginning of time, when God 
made the world. For this is the story of God and of 
how He made heaven and earth. In the beginning it 
was not beautiful as it is now; all was dark, and the spirit 
of God moved in the darkness. 

So God created heaven and earth, and because His was a 
great loving spirit, God thought to Himself, ''I must still cre- 
ate ; I must put beautiful things on this earth which I have 
ma3e. First of all I will give light," and, He said, ''Let there 
be light." And daylight spread over the whole world. 

And God said, ''I will make some of the hours light and 
some dark. The light hours I will call day, and the dark- 
ness I will call night." And that was the first day that came 
to the earth. At this time, each day was many thousands of 
years long. 

And God said, "The dry land I will call the earth, and 
above the earth I will place my heaven." This work was 
done in the second day. 



2 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

Upon this new earth God made grass and flowers to grow, 
and then the world was beautiful to see. He remembered 
even to make these flowers smell sweet when they opened in 
the sunlight. He made wonderful big green trees, and 
fruit that was good to eat grew on some of them. God was 
pleased with the beautiful things that He had made. And 
these things He finished on the third day. 

On the fourth day God said, ''I will put lights in the sky 
to make day and night upon the earth." So He made two 
great lights. The sun, because it was brightest. He made to 
shine by day, and the moon and stars He put in the sky to 
make a little light for the night. 

On the fifth day God made fish to swim in the water, and 
lovely birds to fly in the air. He gave these birds wonder- 
ful blue and red and yellow feathers, and He taught them to 
make beautiful music. They were so happy because God 
had put them in this wonderful world that they sang all day 
in the green trees. 

On the sixth day God made all kinds of animals, — things 
that walk ; cows and elephants and lions and cats and dogs 
and sheep. He made things that fly in the air, like the tiny 
bees and butterflies, but He waited until the last to finish the 
most wonderful part of His work. 

God said, 'T will make a man, and in many ways he shall 
be like God. I will give him a mind, so that he can think 
and love, and he shall have everything on this earth to use 



THE CREATION 3 

for himself." So out of the soft ground God made this first 
man. He breathed some of His own spirit into the man and 
he became alive. And God named the man Adam. 



II 

THE GARDEN OF EDEN 

GOD made a lovely garden which He called the Gar- 
den of Eden, and into this garden He put the man. 
And Adam rose up and walked about, and he called 
to the birds and animals, but of course they could not speak 
because they did not have a mind like Adam's. So Adam 
felt lonely because there was no one to talk to him. 

And God said, ''I will give this man some one to talk to 
and to love." So He made a beautiful woman to live in the 
garden with Adam, and the woman's name was Eve. When 
God saw this happy man and woman He was glad that He 
had made all of these things, and He told Adam and Eve that 
they might have everything in the Garden of Eden except 
the fruit from the tree which grew in the center of the garden. 

For a long time Adam and Eve went about and were very 
happy together, but one day a serpent spoke to Eve and said, 
''Why can you not eat the fruit from every tree in the gar- 
den?" 

And Eve answered, ''We do eat of every tree excepting the 
one in the center of the garden." 

Then the serpent said to her, "You may eat from that tree 
too. You will not die, but will learn a great deal if you eat 
some of this fruit." 




THE SERPENT WENT ON COAXING AND ARGUING TILL FINALLY EVE WAS PERSUADED 



6 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

Then Eve looked at the beautiful tree and saw the good red 
fruit, and she plucked some of it, eating part of it herself and 
giving part of it to Adam. 

A few hours after this they heard the voice of God as He 
walked through the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam 
and Eve were afraid because they had disobeyed God, and 
they ran and hid behind the trees. 

Then God called to Adam and said to him, ''Adam, where 
are you?" 

And Adam answered, "I heard your voice in the garden 
and I was afraid." 

And God said, ''Have you eaten from the tree in the center 
of the garden?" 

And Adam answered, "Eve ate first from it and then gave 
me part of the fruit." 

And Eve said, "The serpent told me that the fruit would 
make me very wise, and I ate it." 

And God was both angry and sad because this wonderful 
man and woman that He had made had disobeyed Him. 
But when people disobey the laws of God they are always 
punished for it. So God drove Adam and Eve from the 
Garden of Eden, and before the gate of the beautiful garden 
He placed two angels with flaming swords so that Adam and 
Eve could not enter again, but had to plant and work in the 
stony ground outside, to grow enough food to live upon. 



Ill 
THE STORY OF CAIN AND ABEL 

YOU must wonder if Adam and Eve could ever be 
happy again after God sent them from the Garden 
of Eden. But as the days went by God sent them 
two sons; one son they named Cain and the other Abel. 
Then for a few years, although they worked very hard, they 
lived happily together. Cain was a farmer and planted and 
grew fruits and vegetables. Abel was a shepherd and raised 
flocks of sheep. 

One day the brothers thought that they would like to give 
something to God. So Cain brought his most beautiful 
fruit, and Abel the best lamb from his flock, and they placed 
their gifts on two piles of stones out in the field. These piles 
of stones they called Altars. 

When God saw the gift that Abel offered Him, He was 
pleased, because Abel was a good man and tried always to 
please God; but He was not pleased with Cain and his offer- 
ing, because Cain was not a good man. When Cain saw 
that God would not take his gift, but was pleased with the 
offering that his brother made, he became very angry with 
Abel and one day he quarreled with him and struck and 
killed him. 



8 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

Then God said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" 
And Cain answered, 'T do not know. Am I my brother's 
keeper?'' 

But God knew what Cain had done and told him that, be- 
cause he had been so wicked, he must wander all over the 
earth. He could no longer be a farmer, because the fruit 
and grain would no longer grow for him. So Cain left the 
land where his father and mother were and wandered into 
strange countries. 



. IV 

NOAH'S ARK 

MANY years after Adam and Eve were driven from 
the beautiful garden, there were a great many 
people living upon the earth. But the mothers 
and fathers, and even the little children, were so bad that 
they cared nothing about God or one another. So at last 
God saw that the only way to make the earth a pleasant place 
to live in was to punish all of these bad people. 

There was only one family who still loved God; this was 
Noah and his children. So God told Noah to build a large 
boat, to take all of his children, and also two of every kind of 
animal that lived, and put them in the boat, because a dread- 
ful storm was going to drown every one who was not in it. 

So one day Noah and his sons cut down many trees and 
made boards, and began to build the big boat right in the 
middle of a green field. They called this boat an ark. 
When the people saw Noah making a boat so far from 
the water they laughed, and asked him how he was going to 
sail it without any water. Then Noah felt sorry for all of 
those bad people and tried to make them good so that God 
would not drown them. But it did no good. They only 
laughed at him and said they were not afraid of God, or of 
His rain. 



10 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

When the ark was finished and made very strong so that 
it could not leak, Noah called all of his family together. 
And from all parts of the country came two of every kind 
of animal; cows and sheep, elephants, cats and dogs, camels, 
snakes, and birds and bugs, and they all crowded into the 
ark. And then the rain came! At first the bad people 
thought that it was only a shower, but it kept raining day 
after day for a long, long time, until the flood covered, first, 
the little houses, then the large ones, and finally the hills and 
tree-tops. Only Noah's family and the animals inside of the 
ark were saved. 

After a long time (almost five months later) the rain 
stopped and Noah sent a dove from the ark. But everything 
was covered with water and in a little while the dove came 
back. A few days later Noah again sent the dove from the 
ark and this time she returned with a tiny green leaf in her 
bill. 

Every one in the ark was happy when they saw this, for 
they knew that the water no longer covered the tree-tops. 
A few days later the dove was again sent out, but this time 
she did not come back. Then Noah knew that she must 
have found dry land and food to eat. 

The ark had floated to the top of a mountain called Mount 
Ararat, and when Noah opened the great door in the side 
of the ark all the beautiful green world stretched away be- 
neath them. Then how every one, people and animals alike, 




THE WORD OF THE LORD CAME TO NOAH TELLING HIM TO GO FORTH OUT OF THE ARK WITH 

EVERYTHING THAT WAS IN IT 



12 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

rushed to the door; each wanted to get out of the ark first. 
They had been there so long, and were so tired of staying in 
one place. 

When they stepped outside it felt so good to be able to 
walk about on dry land, and there in the sunlight these people 
thanked God for His goodness to them. He had given 
them back their beautiful world, and in the sky He showed 
Noah a rainbow which stretched right across the sky in 
beautiful colors of red, blue, green, orange, and purple. 
And God said, 'T will set my bow in the clouds as a promise 
to you that I will never again send a flood to kill everything 
that lives upon the earth," 









V 

THE TOWER OF BABEL 

AT one time long, long ago all the people on earth 
lived together and spoke one language. They did 
not speak English and French and Spanish, and 
the many different tongues that they speak in these days. 

And they left the country in the East where they had been 
living and traveled until they came to a plain in the land of 
Shinar. And they said to one another, ''This is a beautiful 
country, let us stay here and we will make bricks, and with 
them we will build a city, and in the city we will build a 
great tower which shall reach up into heaven." 

So they made bricks and built their city and started to build 

the tower. They built it up and up, one brick upon another, 

until it stood far above the city. 

1^" And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower 

which the men had made, and He saw that they were trying 

to make the tower reach up into His heaven. And the Lord 

said, ''Behold, the people is one, and they have all one 

language; and this they begin to do, and now nothing will 

stop them that they think of doing. And," He said, "I will 

change the language of this people so that they cannot under- 

13 



14 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

stand one another." So God made them all speak in differ- 
ent tongues. 

When they tried to finish the tower, and one man called to 
another and asked him to bring bricks, or mud with which to 
stick the bricks together; he used words that the other man 
had never heard before. And so they could not work to- 
gether, and the Tower of Babel was never finished. 

Then God sent the people from this land and scattered 
them over all the earth, before they had finished their city. 
For this reason, and because God made them speak in many 
tongues, the name of the city was called Babel. 



VI 

THE STORY OF HAGAR 

IN the land of Canaan lived a good man whose name was 
Abraham. Now, although Abraham was rich and had 
many things to make him happy, he had one great 
sorrow; and that was because God had given him no 
children. 

In those days a man could marry more than one wife. 
Abraham had two wives, one was named Sarah and she was 
very beautiful; the other wife was named Hagar, and she 
was a slave. 

When Abraham was a very old man God gave him and 
his wife Hagar a son, and they called the little boy Ishmael. 
Now although Abraham was very happy when Ishmael was 
born, the beautiful wife Sarah was angry because God had 
given Hagar a child and had not given one to her, and she 
was unkind to the slave woman and made her very sad. 
Then one day God sent a child to Sarah also and this child 
they called Isaac. 

One day when Isaac was about two years old, Sarah saw 
Ishmael laughing at her little boy, and she became so angry 
that she made Abraham send Hagar and Ishmael away. 

IS 



i6 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

So one day Abraham rose early in the morning, and took 
some bread and a bottle of water and gave it to Hagar and 
sent her and Ishmael away. 

So they wandered out into the wilderness, and as the day 
advanced they ate their bread and drank all of the water. The 
sun was very hot and the little child wanted more water, 
but there was none for him. Then Hagar took him and 
laid him in the shade under a bush, and while he lay there 
crying she went a little way from him so that she need not 
see him die. 

As she sat there weeping, an angel came to her and told 
her not to be afraid, and he told her to look, and there a 
little way from where she sat, was a well of water. And she 
ran and filled her bottle, and gave some to Ishmael to drink. 
And God was with Ishmael and blessed him, and he lived 
there in the wilderness with his mother until he became a 
man. 




HAGAR, NOT KNOWING WHICH WAY TO GO, WANDERED ABOUT FIRST ONE WAY AND THEN 

ANOTHER 



VII 

ABRAHAM'S OFFERING 

THE little baby Isaac, whom God had sent to 
Abraham, was a big boy now, and Abraham loved 
him very much. But more than any one else he 
loved God. In those far off days, when a man loved 
God and wanted to do something to please him, he would 
take a lamb and lay it upon an altar made of stones. 
Then he would kill the lamb and would call this an offering 
to God. 

One day Abraham thought that God would be pleased if 
he placed little Isaac on the altar and offered him to God. 
So he took the little boy by the hand and led him out over 
the green fields and up into a mountain. There he gathered 
some wood, and taking Isaac, he tied his hands and laid him 
on the wood upon the altar. Then he took out the sharp 
knife he carried, but as he leaned over his little boy the voice 
of an angel called to him and said, ^'Abraham, Abraham, 
do not hurt your little boy. Do not touch the lad. In the 
bushes behind you, you will find a ram, take that and offer 
it instead." 

So Abraham untied Isaac and was very happy when he 

17 



i8 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

knew that God did not want him to make an offering of his 
little boy. And the angel spoke again to Abraham, and told 
him that because he had loved God so much, God would 
bless him and would give him cattle and great riches. Then 
the angel went back to heaven, and Abraham took Isaac 
down the mountain and back to his own home. 



VIII 

ISAAC AND REBEKAH 

THE years passed, and Isaac became a man and old 
enough to be married. So one day Abraham 
called his chief servant and told him that he must 
go back to the country where he had lived when he was a 
child, and from that country he must bring back a young 
girl to be the wife of his son Isaac. 

So the servant took gifts of gold and ten camels with him, 
and rode away. He rode on and on for a long time, until at 
last he came to the city of Nahor, where he stopped beside 
a well near the city gates. And as he waited, he prayed to 
God and said, ''Let the maiden who will make a good wife 
for Isaac answer me when I ask for a drink of water; let her 
say to me, 'Drink, and I will give your camels drink also.' " 
While he was praying a beautiful girl named Rebekah came 
to the well, and when he saw her with a jar of water on her 
shoulder, he asked if she would give him some to drink. 
And Rebekah said to him, "Drink, and I will give water to 
your camels also." And she ran and filled the trough for the 
camels. 

Then the servant was glad because he knew that God had 

19 



20 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

sent Rebekah, and he took the golden earrings and bracelets, 
and put them on her; and he asked if there would be room 
in her father's house for him to spend the night. Rebekah 
said that there was room, and she ran and told her brother 
Laban, and he came out to meet him and took him to his 
father's house. 

When they entered, supper was ready, but before the 
servant would eat, he told them that he had come to that city 
to find a wife for his master, Isaac. Then he told her mother 
and brother of his meeting with Rebekah at the well, and 
asked them if they were willing to have her go back with 
him to marry Isaac. And they answered that God must have 
sent Rebekah to the well to meet him, and that they would 
let her go. ''Rebekah is here," they said, ''take her and go, 
and let her be your master's wife." 

So following the servant the next morning, Rebekah rode 
away on the back of a camel. After riding for a long time, 
they came to the land of Canaan. 

And in the evening Isaac came out into the fields to watch 
the sun set, and as he raised his eyes he saw the camels com- 
ing. 

Then Rebekah saw Isaac, and said to the servant, "What 
man is this who is coming to meet us?" 

And the servant answered, "It is Isaac." Then Rebekah 
stepped down from her camel and she covered herself with 
a veil and went to meet him. When they stood side by side, 




REBEKAH, YOUNG AND BEAUTIFUL, CAME OUT OF THE CITY GATE AND WENT DOWN TO THE 

•WELL 



I 



ISAAC AND REBEKAH 21 

the servant told Isaac all that he had done. And Isaac loved 
Rebekah, and together they w^ent into his mother's tent and 
she became his wife. 



IX 

THE STORY OF JOSEPH 

IN the land of Canaan there lived a rich man named 
Jacob who had twelve sons. Jacob loved his children 
dearly, but more than all the others he loved his son 
Joseph, who was a young boy of seventeen years. 

Jacob owned hundreds and hundreds of sheep, and in the 
morning his ten older sons would take them out to the pas- 
tures where they could find plenty of grass to eat. 

The two younger sons, Joseph and Benjamin, did not go 
to the pasture lands with their brothers. Often Joseph 
would sit gazing across the fields, planning to do great things 
when he became a man. 

One night he dreamed a strange dream, and in the morn- 
ing he said to his brothers, ''I dreamed last night that we were 
in the fields binding sheaves of wheat, and my sheaf rose up 
and stood very straight, and your sheaves stood all around 
and bowed down to mine." 

Then his brothers were angry and said to him, "Do you 
think that you are going to rule over us?" 

A few nights after this Joseph had another dream, and in 
the morning said to his father and brothers, "Last night I 

22 



THE STORY OF JOSEPH 23 

dreamed that the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed 
down before me." 

Then his father too was angry and said, "Shall I and your 
mother and brothers bow down to the earth before you?'' 

One day Jacob's sons stayed away so long with their flocks 
that he became worried, so he asked Joseph if he would go 
to look for his brothers and see if they and their flocks were 
all right. So Joseph put on a beautiful coat of many colors 
that his father had given him, and off he started. First he 
looked in the fields near his home, but could not find them. 
So he wandered on and on, until at last he met a man who 
had seen them and who told him where to go. 

While he was yet a long way off his brothers saw him 
coming in his coat of many colors, and they hated him and 
said to one another, '*Here comes the dreamer, let us kill 
him and throw him into a pit, then we will see what will 
come of his dreaming.'' But his oldest brother, Reuben, 
would not let them kill him. So they took off his beautiful 
coat and lowered him into a pit. 

Not long after that some men on camels came riding that 
way, — they were going down to the land of Egypt to sell 
spices,— and the brothers called to the men, and they took 
Joseph from the pit and sold him as a slave. And the men 
took him and put him on a camel and rode away. 

Then the brothers killed a little goat and dipped Joseph's 
beautiful coat in it's blood, and took it to their father Jacob 



24 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

and said, "We found this coat; did it belong to your son 
Joseph?" When Jacob saw the coat covered with blood he 
wept and tore his clothes and said, "It is my son's coat; some 
wild beast has killed him." 



X 

JOSEPH IN EGYPT 

THE men who had bought Joseph took him to Egypt 
and sold him to Potiphar, who was a captain of the 
guards of the prison. One day Potiphar became 
angry with Joseph and put him in the prison, but even there 
God watched over him and helped him. 

In the prison were two men who had once worked in the 
king's palace; one had been King Pharaoh's chief butler, 
and the other his chief baker. The keeper of the prison 
gave Joseph charge of these two men, and one morning 
when he brought them their breakfast they told him that 
they had each had a strange dream of which they could not 
tell the meaning. - 

Joseph said, ''Tell me your dream." 

And the chief butler said, "I dreamed that I saw a vine 
with three branches on it, and the branches blossomed and 
became clusters of ripe grapes, and I took the grapes and 
pressed the juice into a cup and gave it to King Pharaoh." 

Then Joseph said, ''This is the meaning of your dream; 
in three days Pharaoh will take you out of prison and make 
you his butler again, and you shall serve him his wine as 

you did before." 

25 



26 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

When the chief baker heard this, he said, ''And do you 
know the meaning of this? I dreamed that I was walking 
with three baskets on my head, and in the top basket were 
many good things to eat that I had baked, and the birds 
came and ate out of the basket." 

And Joseph said, ''This is the meaning of your dream; 
in three days Pharaoh will take you from prison and will 
hang you on a tree until you die, and the birds will eat 
you." 

And in three days everything happened as Joseph had 
said. The chief butler went back to the palace and the chief 
baker was hanged. 

Two years passed, and Joseph was still in the prison, when 
one night King Pharaoh had a dream, and he called all the 
wise men in Egypt and asked them the meaning of it, but 
no one could tell him. Then suddenly the chief butler re- 
membered Joseph, and he told Pharaoh of his own dream 
and of how Joseph had told him the meaning of it. Then 
the king sent for Joseph, and he washed and put on fresh 
clothes and came and stood before him. 

And Pharaoh said, "Last night I dreamed that I stood on 
the bank of a river, and seven fat cows came up out of the 
river and began to eat in the meadow, and as I watched, seven 
poor thin cows (such as I have never seen in the land of 
Egypt) came up after them; and the thin cows ate up the 
fat ones, and when they had eaten them they were still thin. 




BEHOLD THERE COME SEVEN YEARS OF GREAT PLENTY THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND OF 
EGYP?!aND there shall arise after THEM SEVEN YEARS OF FAMINE 



^■H 



JOSEPH IN EGYPT 27 

And I dreamed again, and I saw seven full ears of corn come 
up on one stalk, then seven thin blasted ears came up on 
the same stalk, and the seven thin ears spoiled the seven good 
ears. And I v^akened and told my dream to the wise men, 
but no one could tell me it's meaning." 

Then Joseph said to King Pharaoh, "God has shown you! 
what He will do in the land of Egypt. Both dreams mean 
the same thing. For seven years so much grain will grow in 
the land of Egypt that there will be more than we can use, 
but after the seven years of plenty, seven years of famine will 
follow, when nothing at all will grow in the whole land and 
the people will be hungry and will cry for bread. Now let 
Pharaoh find some man who is wise, and set him over the 
land to put away the food and to save it in the seven years 
of plenty.'' 

And Pharaoh saw that Joseph was a wise man and that 
God was with him, and he made him ruler over all the land 
of Egypt. He took a ring from his finger and put it on 
Joseph, and he put a gold chain around his neck and 
gave him beautiful clothes and a chariot to ride in. As 
Joseph rode through the streets all the people bowed before 
him. For seven years he was very busy riding through all 
the land, and building great barns and filling them so full 
of grain that no more would go in them. 

Then came a year when nothing would grow; and year 
after year the fields were bare, and the people were hungry 



28 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

and came crying to Pharaoh. And he sent them to Joseph, 
and Joseph opened the barns and sold them food. 

Far away in the land of Canaan where Joseph's father and 
brothers lived, there was also famine. When Jacob learned 
that there was corn stored in the land of Egypt he sent down 
all of his sons except little Benjamin, to buy corn of Pharaoh. 
When the brothers came to the city they were sent to Joseph's 
palace, and they bowed themselves down to the earth before 
him. 

Now Joseph knew his brothers, but they did not know 
him, and he said to them, "You men are spies." 

And they said to him, '*Nay, my lord, but to buy food are 
thy servants come. We are twelve brothers, the sons of 
Jacob. Our brother Benjamin is now with our father, and 
one brother is not. We are true men; we are not spies." 

And Joseph said to them, *'If you are true men, let one of 
you stay here, in prison, — because I fear God I will send 
the rest of you back again to your homes with food for 
your families, — ^but bring to me your little brother Benjamin, 
that I may know that you speak the truth." 

So the men left their brother Simeon in the prison and 
started back with their sacks of grain to their father. When 
they had traveled a little way one man opened his sack, and 
there in the top of it was the money that he had paid for the 
corn. And as they looked, each man found his money in 
his sack. 



JOSEPH IN EGYPT 29 

When they told their father what had happened to them 
in Egypt; how they had left Simeon in prison, and that the 
governor of the land had asked to see Benjamin, Jacob said, 
''Joseph is dead and Simeon is in prison, therefore I will not 
let Benjamin leave me." 

But as the weeks passed and the food was almost gone there 
was nothing else to do but to go again to Egypt for grain. 
So Jacob kissed Benjamin, and in great sorrow let him go 
with his brothers. And he said to them, ''God Almighty 
give you mercy before the man, that he send back to me my 
two sons." And taking little Benjamin with them, they 
went down again to the land of Egypt. 

When Joseph saw his brothers returning with Benjamin 
he sent a servant to ask them to take dinner with him at noon 
that day. Then Joseph had Simeon taken out of prison, and 
they all went to Joseph's palace. 

When he saw them he said, "Is your father well, the old 
man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?" 

And they answered, "He Is well." 

When he saw Benjamin he said, "Is this your younger 
brother? God be gracious unto you, my son." 

And he felt great love for Benjamin and his eyes filled 
with tears and he hurried Into another room and wept. 
When he had washed his face he went out to them again, 
and at dinner he gave to Benjamin five times as much to eat 
as he gave the others. 



30 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

When they had finished and gone out, Joseph told a serv- 
ant to put back the money in each man's sack, after it had 
been filled with corn; ^nd he said, ''Take my silver cup and 
put it in the top of Benjamin's sack." 

Next morning the brothers started home, and they felt very 
happy as they traveled along. But they had gone only a 
little way when they heard some one coming behind them, 
and turning around, they saw Joseph's servant, and he said 
to them, ''Why do you steal my master's cup, when he was 
so good to you?" 

They said to him, "We are not thieves; look in our sacks 
and the man in whose sack you find it shall become your 
slave." 

So the servant began with the oldest brother and looked in 
each sack until he came to Benjamin's, and there he found 
the silver cup. 

When his brothers saw this they were sad, and Judah said, 
"Let me become your slave instead of Benjamin, for if we 
return home without our youngest brother our father will 
surely die." 

But the servant said, "No, you shall all come back with me 
to Joseph." 

So they went back to the palace, and Joseph stood before 
them and said, "I am your brother Joseph, do you not know 
me? You sold me as a slave when I was a little boy and 
Pharaoh has made me ruler over all Egypt." 



JOSEPH IN EGYPT 31 

Then the brothers remembered Joseph's dreams and they 
were glad. And Joseph sent his brothers to bring Jacob and 
their wives and children back to the land of Egypt. When 
they returned home and told the glad news to their father, 
he could not at first believe it; but when he saw the wagons 
that Joseph had sent, he said, 'It is enough; Joseph my son 
is yet alive. I will go and see him before I die." 

So he and all his family returned to the land of Egypt, 
and as long as King Pharaoh lived he was very kind to 
Joseph and to all of his people. 



XI 

MOSES IN THE BULRUSHES 

THE people of Israel still lived in the land of Egypt 
although Israel and Joseph and his brothers had 
been dead for many years. The king who had 
ruled in Egypt when Joseph lived was also dead, and another 
King Pharaoh now sat on the throne and ruled the people. 

This king was not a good man and one day he planned to 
kill all the little boy babies as soon as God sent them to the 
people of Israel. So the people grew afraid to let the Egyp- 
tians know when a new baby came to them. 

One day a beautiful child was born, and when his mother 
saw how lovely he was she hid and would let no one see him, 
but when he became three months old she could not keep him 
hidden in her home any longer, so she took a basket and 
rubbed slime and pitch over it so that the water could not 
leak through, and she put her little boy in the basket and 
laid it in the river among the rushes and flowers. 

Now the daughter of Pharaoh came to the river to bathe, 
and when she saw the basket she asked one of her servants 
to bring it to the shore and open it. So they lifted the lid, 

and there lay the beautiful baby. When Pharaoh's daughter 

32 



MOSES IN THE BULRUSHES 33 

saw him, she loved him, and one of her maidens said, **Shall 
I go and get a nurse for you that she may take care of the little 
one?'' and Pharaoh's daughter said, ''Go." So she ran and 
brought the baby's own mother, although no one else knew 
who the nurse was. 

And Pharaoh's daughter took the child and its mother to 
her own home and made him her son. And she said, 
''Because I drew him out of the water, I will name him 
Moses." 



XII 

MOSES LEADS THE PEOPLE 
THROUGH THE RED SEA 

YEAR after year passed and the children of Israel 
became slaves and worked for the Egyptians. 
When Moses became a man he left the land of 
Egypt and worked as a shepherd in another country. One 
day when he was in the fields he saw a burning bush, but 
although the flame was in its branches, the bush did not 
burn up. This seemed so strange to Moses and he stopped 
to watch it. And as he looked he heard the voice of God 
speaking from the bush. 

God said, ''Moses, Moses.'' 

Moses answered, ''Here am I." 

Then God told him that He had seen how cruel the Egyp- 
tians were to the people of Israel. He said that Moses must 
go back to the land of Egypt and tell King Pharaoh that 
God said he must let the people of Israel go free. But 
Moses was afraid to go alone, so God sent his brother Aaron 
with him to talk to the king. 

So Moses and Aaron went to King Pharaoh and told him 
what God had said. But the king was angry and would not 

34 



MOSES LEADS THE PEOPLE 35 

let the children of Israel go. Instead, he made them work 
much harder. 

Then God sent great trouble to the Egyptians. First he 
turned the water in all the rivers into blood, and the people 
had no water to drink. But Pharaoh would not let them go. 

Then he sent frogs all over the land which got into their 
beds and their food. One thing after another God did to 
punish the Egyptians, but still the king would not let the 
people go. 

Then one day God told Moses to tell each family of the 
children of Israel to kill a lamb and roast it for their suppers, 
and to take the blood of the lamb and mark with it the two 
side posts on the doors of their homes ; because that night an 
angel was coming to punish the Egyptians, and seeing the 
marks of blood upon the Israelites' doors would pass over 
them and kill only the Egyptians. 

So the Israelites did as Moses told them and marked their 
doors with blood. At midnight the angel came, and seeing 
the mark passed over them ; but in the homes of the Egyptians 
he killed the firstborn, the oldest child; from the firstborn of 
Pharaoh in the palace, to the poorest Egyptian in the land. 

When Pharaoh saw all this death and sadness he sent for 
Moses and Aaron and told them to take all of the children of 
Israel, and all their flocks of sheep and herds of cattle and 
leave the land of Egypt. So that great company of men and 
women and little children, started on their way. 



36 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

They traveled until they came to the shore of the Red Sea. 
There they rested, and suddenly, as they looked back, they 
saw the Egyptians coming to capture them again. There 
were six hundred chariots and a whole army of soldiers, and 
Pharaoh was leading them. Then the frightened people ran 
to Moses. And God spoke to him and said, ''Lift up your 
rod and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it." 

So Moses did as God told him, and the waters parted. 
There was a dry road through the middle of the sea and the 
children of Israel passed over it to the other shore. 

Then the Egyptians followed after them to the middle of 
the sea. And God spoke again to Moses, and he stretched 
forth his hand over the sea and the waters came together 
again and covered the road, and all of the Egyptians were 
drowned. 

God went before the children of Israel to lead them to the 
promised land that was to be their home. In the day time 
He went before them in a cloud, and at night in a pillar 
of fire. 




WITH THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB EACH MAN WAS TO MAKE A MARK, THAT THE ANGEL OF 
DEATH MIGHT PASS OVER EVERY HOUSE SO MARKED 



XIII 

GOD MAKES WATER SPRING FROM 

A ROCK 

AS the children of Israel traveled through the wilder- 
ness they came to a part of the country where there 
was no water. The people were thirsty and spoke 
against God, and they said to Moses, ''Did you bring us up 
out of Egypt to let us die of thirst here in the wilderness?" 

Moses spoke to God and said, "What shall I do?" 

And God said, ''Take your rod in your hand, and I will 
stand before you upon a rock in Horeb, and you shall strike 
the rock with your rod, and there shall water come out of it." 

So before all the tribes of Israel Moses struck the rock, 
and water flowed from it and the people drank. And they 
traveled on, and came to the wilderness of Sinai. 

God told Moses to have the people bring gold and silver 
and wood and fine linen, and of these things they must make 
a box which was to be called the ark of the testimony. 

So the people did as Moses asked them, and they built the 
ark and put upon the ark a mercy seat made of pure gold. 

And God said to Moses, "There on the mercy seat I will 
meet and talk with you." 

And God told Moses to go up into Mount Sinai so that he 

37 



38 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

could talk alone with him. A heavy cloud covered the 
mountain, and Moses went up into the cloud and the glory 
of God was around him. God gave him the Ten Command- 
ments to be a law to the people to teach them how to serve 
Him. He gave Moses two tablets of stone upon which the 
laws were written. 

When the people saw that Moses stayed so long in the 
mountain, they grew restless, and said to his brother Aaron, 
"Make us a god that we may worship it." 

So Aaron forgot the real God and he said to the people, 
''Take the golden earrings from the ears of your wives and 
your sons and daughters and bring them to me." And 
they brought the earrings to Aaron and he made a golden 
calf. 

And the people said, "This shall be our God." 

Then Aaron built an altar to the false god and the people 
worshiped at it. 

As Moses came down from the mountain carrying the 
tablets of stone, Joshua, who was one of the chief men of the 
tribes of Israel, met him and talked with him. And Joshua 
heard the people shouting, and said to Moses, "There is a 
noise of war in the camp." 

And Moses answered, "It is not crying, but singing that 
I hear." 

When they came into the camp and saw the people wor- 
shiping the golden calf, Moses was very angry and threw 



WATER FROM A ROCK ^ 39 

the tablets of stone and broke them. Then he took the 
golden calf and burnt it with fire and ground it to powder, 
and threw the powder into the water and made the people 
drink it. After that the people worshiped the real God. 

And the Lord said to Moses, "In the morning go up again 
into Mount Sinai, and take with you two tablets of stone like 
the ones that were broken, and I will write again upon the 
tablets the ten commandments that were on the first.'' 

Moses rose early and went up into Mount Sinai, and 
he wrote on the tablets the words of the Ten Commandments. 

For a long time the children of Israel traveled in the wild- 
erness and carried the ark of God before them. Then one 
day they saw before them the beautiful land that God had 
promised to give them for their home. 




THE SONS QE LEVI .WENT AHEAP AND CARRIED THB ARK IN THB JOURNEVl THROUGH THfl 

.WILDERNESS 



XIV 

THE SPIES SENT OUT 

AND the Lord spoke to Moses and told him to send 
spies into the land of Canaan that they might see 
what the land was like. So Moses took twelve 
men, one from each tribe of Israel. And he said to them, 
**Go up into the mountain and see the land. See if the 
people there are strong and whether they live in tents or 
in houses in walled cities. And gather of the fruit of the 
land that we may know if it is good or bad." 

So the spies went into the land of Canaan, and after forty 
days they came back to the people of Israel, and they car- 
ried with them one cluster of grapes so large that two men 
carried it on a stick upon their shoulders. And they said to 
Moses and Aaron, "The land of Canaan flows with milk and 
honey and this is the fruit of it. But although it is a good 
land, the people who live there are very strong, and the cities 
are walled and very great." 

When the children of Israel heard this, they were afraid 
to go into the promised land. But one of the spies named 
Caleb was not afraid, and he said to the people, *'Let us go up 
at once and take the land, for we are able to get it." 

41 



42 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

Of the twelve spies, Caleb and Joshua were the only ones 
who were not afraid. The other ten said, ''The land is not 
good, and the people there are giants. They are so much 
taller than we, that we look like grasshoppers beside them." 

Then the people were so frightened that they would not 
go into Canaan; and to punish them for not trusting Him, 
God made them wander for forty years in the wilderness. 



XV 

THE FALL OF JERICHO 

IN the fortieth year after the children of Israel had left 
the land of Egypt, the Lord spoke to Moses and told 
him to go up into the mountain in the land of Moab, 
near the city of Jericho, and from there he could look 
into the land of Canaan. And Moses went up into the 
mountain, and there below him on the other side of the River 
Jordan lay the beautiful promised land. 

There in the mountain Moses died, and for thirty days the 
children of Israel wept because he was no longer there to 
lead them. 

Then the Lord spoke to Joshua and said, ''Moses my serv- 
ant is dead; so arise and take with you all the children of 
Israel, and cross the river Jordan and enter into the land that 
I have given them." , 

So Joshua told the people to be ready on the third day, 
and the priests of God took the ark, and when their feet 
touched the waters of the River Jordan, the waters rose up in 
a heap and left a dry path through the river. And the 
Israelites crossed over and camped in the plains of Jericho. 

Now Jericho was a city with a great wall around it, and 

43 



44 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

the people of Jericho closed the city gates so that no one 
could go in or out from it. And God spoke to Joshua and 
told him that the children of Israel were to have the city. 
He told him to have all the people march around the city 
once each day for six days, and on the seventh day to march 
around it seven times. 

So Joshua did all that God told him. The armed men he 
sent first; then seven men with trumpets made of rams horns 
marched before the ark of God, and behind the ark came all 
the tribes of Israel. On the first day while the priests blew 
the trumpets, the people marched around the city once, and 
returned to their camp. They did this each day for six days, 
but on the seventh day they rose early in the morning and 
marched around the city seven times. 

On the seventh time that they went around the priests blew 
loud blasts upon their trumpets, and Joshua said to the peo- 
ple, ''Shout ! for the Lord has given you the city." Then the 
priests blew on the trumpets and the people shouted with a 
great shout, and the walls of the city fell down, and the child- 
ren of Israel went up into the city and took it. 



XVI 

THE STORY OF SAMSON 

ONCE upon a time a young man named Samson 
loved a maiden who lived in the land of the Philis- 
tines. So one day he went with his father and 
mother to ask her father if he might marry her. As he 
walked along the road a young lion rushed out and roared 
at him, and with his bare hands Samson took the lion by the 
throat and killed it. Then he went on his way. 

As he came back over the same road he saw a swarm of 
bees in the body of the lion that he had killed, and he ate 
some of the honey and took some to his father and mother. 

After his marriage, while he sat at his wedding feast, he 
made a riddle, and said to his guests, ''If you can guess my 
riddle within seven days I will give gifts to you all, and if you 
cannot guess it you shall give me gifts instead." 

Then Samson told his riddle and said, "Out of the eater 
came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweet- 
ness." 

No one could guess what the riddle was, and later his 
guests came to Samson's wife, and said to her, *'If you do 

45 




SAMSON, SEIZING THE LION IN HIS STRONG ARMS, KILLED HIM AS EASILY AS HE WOULD A MOUSE. 



THE STORY OF SAMSON 47 

not make Samson tell you the riddle we will burn down your 
father's house." 

When Samson and his wife were alone she said to him, 
"You do not love me or you would tell me the riddle." And 
she asked him again and again, and cried so much, that at 
last Samson told her. Then she went and told the answer 
her friends. 

On the seventh day they came to Samson and said to him, 
*'What is sweeter than honey and what is stronger than a 
lion?" So they gave the answer to the riddle and Samson 
had to give them all gifts. 

When Samson knew that his wife had told her friends the 
answer to the riddle he was very angry. 

After this the Philistines did many unkind things to Sam- 
son. So one day to punish them, he caught three hundred 
foxes and tied their tails together, and fastened to their tails 
burning sticks. Then he drove the foxes into their fields of 
corn, and set fire to all that was in the fields. 

After that he left their country, but when the Philistines 
saw what he had done they went to the land of Judah where 
Samson w^as, and told the men of Judah that they had come 
to take him. The men of Judah went to Samson and told 
him, and although God had made him so very strong, he al- 
lowed them to tie his hands with a strong rope, and they 
brought him to the Philistines. When they saw him com- 
ing, bound, they laughed at him and mocked him, and sud- 



48 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

denly he seemed to grow even stronger than he had been be- 
fore, for he broke the ropes from his hands as though they 
had been threads, and he was once more a free man. 



XVII 

SAMSON AND DELILAH 

FOR many years the children of Israel went to Sam- 
son when they were in trouble and Samson judged 
them. But the people in the countries around them 
were afraid of Samson, and once when he went to a place 
called Gaza the men of that city heard that he had come 
and they said, ''In the morning, when it is day, we will kill 
him." 

This city had a stone wall around it, and at night after the 
big gates were locked, no one could leave until they were 
opened in the morning. But Samson knew that the men 
of Gaza wanted to kill him, so at midnight he went out and 
tore away the heavy gates from the wall and, putting them 
on his shoulders, he carried them to the top of a hill. 

At another time he went to the house of a woman called 
Delilah, and when the Philistines saw that Delilah was a 
friend of Samson's, they came to her and offered to pay her a 
great deal of money if she would find out how they could 
take Samson's strength from him, so that they could kill him. 

So the next time that Samson came to her house Delilah 
asked him what made him so strong. At first he would not 

49 



50 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

tell her, but at last, after she had coaxed and coaxed him, he 
told her that he was strong because he had let his hair grow 
so long, and had never cut it. Then Delilah sat beside him 
until he went to sleep, and while he sat with his head on her 
knees she sent for the Philistines, and when they came, a 
man cut off all of Samson's hair. Then Delilah called to 
him and said, 'The Philistines be upon thee, Samson." 

And he wakened and stood up, but his strength had left 
him. And the Philistines took him and put out his eyes and 
cast him into prison. 

While he worked in the prison his hair began to grow 
again, and one day when the Philistines were holding a feast, 
they sent for Samson that they might laugh at him and mock 
him. When they brought him to the house it was full of 
men and women, and he stood between two large pillars that 
held up the house. And Samson said to the boy that led him 
by the hand, ''Let me feel the pillars with my hand." 

Then he called to God and said, "Oh Lord God, remem- 
ber me and strengthen me, only this once." And he placed 
his hands on the two middle pillars, one on the right side 
and the other on the left. Then he bowed himself and 
pushed with his great arms, and the pillars broke apart and 
the house tumbled down and killed all of those wicked men 
and women. 



XVIII 

THE STORY OF RUTH 

A CERTAIN man with his wife, Naomi, and his two 
sons, went to live in the country of Moab. And 
Naomi's husband and her two sons died. Naomi 
was left with no one to care for her but her sons' wives. So 
she said to them, "I will return to Bethlehem, my own coun- 
try, but you, my daughters, return to the house of your 
mother." 

But Ruth and Orpah loved Naomi and wept when she 
asked them to leave her. But at last Orpah kissed her and 
went away. 

And Naomi said to Ruth, ''Your sister-in-law has gone 
back to her own people, why do you not also go?" 

And Ruth said to her mother-in-law, ''Entreat me not to 
leave you, or to return from following after you, for where 
you go, I will go; and where you lodge, I will lodge; your 
people shall be my people, and your God, my God." 

Naomi was glad when she saw that Ruth would not leave 
her alone in her old age, so together they returned to Beth- 
lehem. When they reached the city all of Naomi's old 

friends gathered around her and were glad to see her again. 

51 



52 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

They had come to Bethlehem at the harvest time, when 
the barley was ripe, and one morning Ruth said to Naomi, 
''I will go to the fields with the gleaners and gather the barley 
that the men do not want." 

So she went out and came to the fields owned by Boaz, who 
was a kinsman to her husband. As Ruth gathered the grain 
Boaz came into the fields, and he said to his reapers, *'The 
Lord be with you." 

They answered, *'The Lord bless you." 

When he saw Ruth gathering grain beside the reapers he 
asked them who she was, and when they told him how she 
had left her own home to care for Naomi, he went and spoke 
to her, for he was pleased because she had been so kind. 
And he said to her, *'Stay and eat your lunch in the fields 
with us to-day." 

And he told the reapers to leave more of the grain behind 
them as they worked so that Ruth could gather it. All day 
she worked in the fields, and when she started home she was 
surprised to see how much barley she had gathered. 

When she reached home she told Naomi how kind Boaz 
had been to her, and showed her the barley. Naomi too was 
glad for they were poor and had very little to eat. 

Day after day while the harvest season lasted, Ruth went 
to glean in the fields, and Boaz watched her as she worked 
and learned to love her. 

Now Naomi had a piece of land that she wanted to sell. 




RUTH WORKED DILIGENTLY UNTIL EVENING FELL 



i 



THE STORY OF RUTH 53 

and according to the law it must be sold to the nearest rela- 
tive in her husband's family. So although Boaz was a rela- 
tive and wanted to buy the land, he could not do so unless 
another man, who was a nearer kinsman than he, would not 
buy it. 

So Boaz went to the city gate and sat there waiting. In a 
little while he saw the ojher kinsman coming, and he said, 
*'Ho, turn aside, sit down here." 

Then he called ten men of the city and said, "Sit ye down 
here." 

Then he told them of the land that Naomi would sell. 
And he said to the other kinsman, ''Buy it if you will, but 
if you will not; tell me, and I will buy it, as I am nearest in 
kin after you." 

The man said, ''You may buy the land for I cannot." 

Then Boaz said to the people, "I will buy all that belonged 
to the husband of Naomi and her two sons, and I will take 
Ruth to be my wife." 

Then the people at the gate said, "We are witnesses to all 
that you have said." 

So Boaz married Ruth, and they took care of old Naomi 
and were very good to her. And one day God made them 
very happy by sending them a little son, whom they called 
Obed. And Obed became the grandfather of king David. 



XIX 

THE STORY OF A LITTLE BOY WHO 
SERVED IN THE TEMPLE 

THERE was a man of Mount Ephraim whose name 
was Elkanah, and he had two wives. The name 
of one was Hannah, and the name of the other 
Peninnah. Peninnah had children but Hannah had none. 

Once every year Elkanah with his wives and children, left 
the city to take gifts to the temple of God at Shiloh. While 
they were there, Elkanah gave portions to his wives and to 
his sons and daughters, but to Hannah he gave an extra por- 
tion because he loved her more. 

At dinner Hannah sat and wept, and could not eat. And 
Elkanah said to her, ''Why do you weep, and why do you 
not eat? Is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you 
than ten sons?" 

When they had finished eating, Hannah went weeping to 
the temple, for she was very sad. And she prayed to God 
and said, "Oh Lord of Hosts, if you will look on my sadness 
and remember me and will give me a son ; then I will give 
him to the Lord all the days of his life." 

54 



THE STORY OF A LITTLE BOY 55 

When she had finished praying she felt happy, and the 
priest said to her, "Go in peace, and the God of Israel give 
you what you have asked of him." 

Then Hannah left the temple, and in the morning, after 
Elkanah and his family had worshiped God, they returned 
to their own home. 

The months passed and Hannah was no longer sad, for 
God remembered her, and one day sent her a little son. 
And his mother named him Samuel. 

Now Hannah remembered her promise to God, and while 
Samuel was still a very little boy, she took him to Eli, the old 
priest at the temple. And she said to him, ''I am the woman 
who stood weeping and praying hei . at the temple, and God 
heard my prayer and sent me a son. Now, therefore, I have 
brought him to lend him to the Lord, to serve Him in the 
temple all the days of his life." 

So Samuel helped Eli in the temple, and every year his 
mother came to see him and brought him a little coat that 
she had made. 

Now Eli was so old that his eyes were dim and he could 
not see. One night after he and Samuel had laid down to 
rest, God spoke to little Samuel, and he answered, '^Here am 
I," and he ran to Eli and said again, ''Here am I, for you 
called me." 

But Eli said, *'I did not call you, lie down again." And 
he went and lay down. 



56 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

Again God called him, and he rose and ran to Eli and 
said, ''Here am I, for you did call me." 

But again Eli said, 'T called not, my son, lie down again/' 

Now Samuel did not know that God had called him and 
he lay down again. And God called as before, and he ran 
to Eli and said, ''Here am I, for you did call me." 

Then Eli knew that it must be the Lord who was calling. 
And he said to Samuel, "Lie down again and if the voice 
calls, answer and say, 'Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.' " 

So Samuel lay down, and God spoke again and said, 
"Samuel, Samuel." 

Then Samuel answered "Speak, Lord, for your servant 
hears," and God talked with Samuel. 

After that God was with Samuel at all times, and he be- 
came a prophet and a wise, good man, and for many years 
he judged the children of Israel. 




(( 



.WHAT IS THE THINQ THAD IHE LORD HATH SAIQ UNTO IHEE ?" DEMANI>ED ELI" 



XX 

SAUL IS MADE KING 

ONE day when Samuel was an old man the people 
of Israel came to him and said that they wanted a 
king to rule over them. Now before this God 
alone had been their king, so at first Samuel did not know 
what to say to them, and he asked God about the matter, and 
God told Samuel to let the people have a king. 

Novi^ there was a young man named Saul, and some of his 
father's donkeys strayed away, and his father sent him with 
a servant to look for them. For a long time they looked, 
but could not find them, so Saul said to the servant, **Come, 
let us go home, or my father will think that we too are 
lost" 

And they were near the city where Samuel lived, and he 
said, '^There is a man of God living in this city, lefus speak 
with him and perhaps he can tell us the way home." 

Now the day before, God had told Samuel that he should 

meet Saul this day, and that Saul was to be made king over 

Israel. When Samuel saw him coming, God spoke again 

and said, ''This is the man of whom I spoke to you." 

58 



SAUL IS MADE KING 59 

When he came near, Saul asked Samuel where the prophet 
lived, and Samuel said, *'I am the prophet. Come with me 
to my house, for I have many things to tell you." 

So Saul spent the night with Samuel, and the next morning 
when he started home Samuel walked a little way with him, 
and he told Saul that God would make him king over Israel. 
And he took oil and poured it over Saul's head, and kissed 
him. 

Then he said to him, "To-day, after you leave me, you 
will meet two men, who will say to you, 'The asses which 
you went out to seek are found, and your father is worried 
for you.' And as you go a little further you will meet three 
men going up to God to Beth-el ; one will be carrying three 
kids, another three loaves of bread, and the other a bottle of 
wine. They will speak with you and will give you two of 
the loaves of bread. Further on as you come near the camp 
of the Philistines you will see a company of prophets com- 
ing down the hill, and you will join them and will prophesy 
with them.'' 

Then Samuel left Saul, and he went on his way. And 
everything that Samuel told him would happen, came to 
pass. 

Then Samuel called together all the tribes of Israel to a 
place called Mizpeh. And from among the tribes he 
selected the tribe of Benjamin, and from that tribe the family 
of Matri was chosen. But when they searched among them 



6o A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE j 

for Saul, he was not with Kish, his father, and they could not 

find him. i 

So Samuel asked God what he should do, and God tol^d 
him that Saul had hidden among the tents and wagons. So 
they searched and found him and they brought him before 
the people. 

When Saul stood up he was taller than any of the other 
men, and Samuel said, "See the man whom the Lord has 
chosen to be king, there is none like him among all the 
people." 

And when the people saw him they shouted and said, 
''God save the king." 

Then Samuel sent them away, and they took Saul to 
Gilgal and there they made him king. 



XXI 

THE STORY OF DAVID 

FOR many years Saul ruled over the people of Israel, 
but he was not a good king, and God was not pleased 
with him. So one day God called Samuel and told 
him to go to Bethlehem to the home of a man named Jesse. 
For from among his sons God had chosen one to be king in 
the place of Saul. 

So Samuel went to Bethlehem and told Jesse what God 
would do ; and Jesse called together his sons. When Samuel 
saw one of the older sons, called Elaib, he thought to him- 
self, this must be the man whom God has chosen to be king. 
But God said to him, '*Look not on him, because I have 
refused him.'' 

Then Jesse made seven of his sons walk before Samuel, 
and he said to Jesse, ''The Lord has not chosen any of these, 
are all of your children here?" 

And Jesse answered, "All are here but my youngest son 
David; he is in the fields watching the sheep." 

And Samuel said, ''Send for him." And they brought 
David before Samuel. He was a strong, beautiful boy, and 
Samuel was pleased. 

6i 



62 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

Then God said to him, *' Arise, anoint him; for this is he." 

So Samuel took a horn of oil and anointed him. But it 
was not yet time for David to rule over the people, though 
from that time the spirit of God was with him. So, as be- 
fore, he went to the fields to watch his father's sheep. 

At this time Saul was not well, and because he had been a 
bad king, God seemed to have forgotten him. He was rest- 
less and often angry with the people of his household. So 
one day his servants said to him, *Tf you had some one come 
to play to you upon a harp when you are unhappy and can- 
not rest, we believe that the music would make you well." 
And they added "In Bethlehem there lives a young man who 
plays sweet music on the harp.'' 

So Saul sent to Jesse at Jerusalem, and said, "Send me 
your son David, who is with the sheep." So they brought 
him to the king, and Saul loved David and was soothed by 
his music. 



XXII 

DAVID AND GOLIATH 

WHILE David was still very young, war broke out 
between the children of Israel and the Philis- 
tines, and they gathered their armies together; 
the Israelites on one hill, and the Philistines facing them on 
another. And there was a valley between them. 

Now three of David's brothers were in Saul's army, but be- 
cause David was so young, he went back to Bethlehem to 
watch his father's sheep. One morning David's father sent 
him with some food to give to his brothers. When he 
reached the place where the army waited, he left his wagon 
and ran in among the soldiers. 

As he stood talking with his brothers, a giant named 
Goliath left the camp of the Philistines, and he called to the 
Israelites and said, ** Why does your whole army come out? 
Choose a man and send him to fight with me, and if he can 
kill me we will become your servants; but if I kill him the 
people of Israel shall be our servants." 

And they looked at the great giant clothed in his heavy 

armor and carrying his big sword; and they were afraid 

and ran from him. And David said *'What will be done to 

63 



64 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

the man who can kill this giant, for who is this Philistine, 
that the armies of God fear him?" 

And the soldiers answered, ''The king will give his daugh- 
ter and great riches to the man who can kill Goliath." 

So David took his staff in his hand and gathered five 
smooth stones and put them in his shepherd's bag ; then with 
only a sling in the other hand, he went out to meet Goliath. 

When Goliath saw David coming with his staff in his 
hand, he said, ''Am I a dog, that you come to me with a 
staff?" 

And David ran toward the giant, and he put his hand in 
his bag and took out a stone and threw it from his sling, and 
the stone struck Goliath in the forehead and he fell upon his 
face to the earth. 

Then David ran and took the giant's sword and cut off 
his head. And he took the head to king Saul, and the king 
made him captain over his army. 




DAVID WITH Goliath's own sword cut off the Philistine's head 



XXIII 

DAVID AND JONATHAN 

AFTER David was made captain of the army he did 
not return to his father at Bethlehem, but went out 
with his soldiers to fight against the Philistines. 
When they had won the battle and Saul and David and 
all the soldiers returned from the war, the women of 
Israel came dancing and singing to meet them, and they 
sang, ''Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thou- 
sands/' And Saul became very angry because they said 
that David had killed more of the enemy then he. But 
Michal, Saul's daughter, loved David and she became his 
wife. 

One day as David played on his harp before the king, 
Saul's anger rose so against him, that he threw his spear at 
him, meaning to kill him, but David moved out of its way, 
and it did not strike him. 

That night David fled from the king's house, and went 

to his own home, and the king sent men to watch him so 

that he could not get away. And David's wife said to him, 

'If you do not go away to-night, to-morrow my father will 

have you killed." 

65 



66 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

So she let David down from a window, and he fled from 
the city and went to see Samuel at Ramah. Then David's 
wife took an image and put goat's hair on it's head and put it 
in David's bed. And when Saul's servants came to take 
him to the king, she said to them, "He is sick." 

They went and told Saul. But he sent again for David 
and said to the servants, '^Bring him to me in the bed, that 
I may kill him." 

So they came to his house and went up to his room. But 
David had gone and only the image lay in the bed. 

Then Saul was very angry, and said to his daughter, "Why 
have you let my enemy escape?" 

Now Jonathan, the king's son, loved David more than any- 
one else on earth. And after David had been a little while 
with Samuel, he went away and came to see Jonathan. And 
he said to him, "What have I done, why does your father hate 
me and want to take my life?" 

And Jonathan said, "God forbid; you shall not die. If 
my father intends to kill you, he will surely tell me, for he 
talks with me about everything that he intends to do. And 
why should he hide this thing from me?" 

But David said, "He knows that you are my friend, so 
perhaps he does not wish you to know that he is trying to find 
me to kill me. To-morrow I sit at the king's table, but let 
me go and I will hide in the fields for three days, and if your 
father misses me say that I have gone to Bethlehem. If he 



DAVID AND JONATHAN 67 

says, It is well, David shall have peace,' then we need not be 
afraid, but if he is very angry, we will know that he intends to 
do me harm/' 

The Jonathan said to him, ''This is the way that I will 
show you if my father intends to harm you : in three days 
from now I will come out into the fields with a boy, and I 
will shoot three arrows from my bow as though I were shoot- 
ing at a mark. Then I will say to the boy, 'Go and find the 
arrows.' And if I say to him, 'they are on this side of the 
tree,' it will mean that my father will not harm you, and you 
can come and live with us again. But if I say to the boy, 
'Behold the arrows are beyond thee,' you will know that the 
king means to kill you. So go your way, for the Lord has 
sent you away." 

So David hid in the fields and Jonathan went to the king's 
table. The first day, when David did not come king Saul 
said nothing about it, but on the second day when David's 
place was still empty, Saul asked his son where he was. And 
Jonathan said to his father, "He asked me to let him go to 
Bethlehem," Then Saul became so angry that he threw 
his spear at Jonathan, and Jonathan too, was angry and 
rose from the table and would not eat. 



XXIV 

DAVID AND JONATHAN PART 

IN the morning Jonathan took his bow and arrows and 
went with a boy out to the fields. And he shot his ar- 
rows, and as the boy ran to pick them up he called to 
him and said, ''The arrows are beyond you, make haste, stay 
not/' And the boy brought them to his master, and Jona- 
than said to him ''Go, carry them to the city." 

As soon as the boy had gone David came from his hiding 
place, and he and Jonathan kissed and wept because they 
must leave one another. And Jonathan said, "Go in peace. 
The Lord be between me and thee." Then David went his 
way, and Jonathan returned to the city. 

David went to the priests of the temple at Nor, and he 
asked for food and a sword, and the priest gave him the holy 
bread from the temple and the sword which had belonged 
to the giant Goliath. 

For many years after this David lived in the wilderness. 
He hid in a cave, and men who were unhappy or poor came 
to him and learned to love him, and he became captain over 
four hundred men. And Saul and his soldiers went out to 
find David to kill him. 

68 



DAVID AND JONATHAN PART 69 

One day, as David and some of his men were hiding in a 
cave, Saul came into it, and as the cave was dark, he thought 
that it was empty, and he lay down and fell asleep. Then 
David's men wanted him to kill Saul while he slept, but 
David cut off the lower part of the king's gown and would 
not harm him. 

When Saul wakened and saw that David had spared his 
life he wept and was sorry that he had tried to kill David. 
But in a little while he forgot David's kindness and went 
out with three thousand men to capture him. 

Then some men of Israel came and told Saul that their 
old enemy the Philistines were coming to fight them, so 
Saul stopped searching for David and w^ent to fight the 
Philistines. And as they fought Saul was wounded and 
died, and Jonathan and two of his brothers were killed. 

When David heard that Saul and Jonathan were dead, he 
tore his clothes and wept. And he said, ''Ye daughters of 
Israel weep for Saul. How are the mighty fallen in battle! 
I am distressed for thee my brother Jonathan: very pleasant 
hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful. 
How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war 
perished." 

And David left the wilderness and went back to live 
among his own people. And when he was thirty years old 
he was made king. 

King David lived in Jerusalem which is called the city 



70 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

of David. For forty years he ruled wisely, and the people 
loved him. And he wrote many beautiful songs in praise 
of God. 



i 



XXV 

THE STORY OF A WISE KING 

KING David had ruled over Israel for forty years, 
and he was now an old man and no longer able to 
rule, so he made his son Solomon king over the 
people. After this king David died. 

And king Solomon had a dream, and in the dream God 
spoke to him and said, ''Ask what I shall give you." 

And Solomon answered, ''Oh Lord my God, give me an 
understanding heart that I may rule wisely over these people, 
and that I may know good from evil." 

And God was pleased because Solomon had asked for wis- 
dom to rule over the people, and not for riches, or anything 
for himself. And he said to Solomon, "I shall give you the 
wisdom that you ask for, and I shall also give you what you 
did not ask for; I shall give you riches and honor, so that 
as long as you live there shall be no other king as great as 
you." 

So Solomon became great and wise, and the kings from 
other countries heard of his wisdom and came to visit him. 

And two women came to the king as he sat on his throne ; 

and one said to him, "This woman and I live together in 

71 



72 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

the same house and we each had a baby, and in the night the 
child of this woman died, and while I slept she took my baby 
and put it in her bed and she put her dead baby in my bed, 
and when I wakened in the morning I saw that the dead baby 
was not my son." 

Then the other woman said to her, ''No; but the living 
child is my son, and the dead one is yours/' 

And king Solomon said, "First one says 'the living child 
is mine, and the dead one is yours,' then the other says, 'no, 
the dead child is yours, and the living one, mine." 

And the king said, "Bring me a sword." And they 
brought him a sword, and he said, "Cut the child in two, 
and give part to one woman, and part to the other." 

Then the mother of the living child said to the king, "Oh I 
my lord, give her the living child and do not hurt him." 

But the other woman said, "Let it be neither mine nor 
thine, but divide it." 

Then the king knew that the mother of the living child 
was the woman who would not let it be killed, and he said 
to his servants, "Give her the living child and do not hurt 
it, for she is his mother." 

When the people of Israel heard of the wisdom of their 
king, they knew that God was with him. 



XXVI 

KING SOLOMON BUILDS A TEMPLE 

FOR a long time king Solomon had planned to build 
a temple where the people of Israel could go to 
worship God. So he sent to Hiram, the king of 
Tyre, and said, ''I purpose to build a house unto the name of 
the Lord my God. Now therefore command your men, and 
I will hire them that they may cut down cedar trees out of 
Lebanon, and my servants shall work with your servants to 
bring cedar and fir trees for the building of the temple." 

So king Solomon sent thirty thousand men to cut down 
trees, and other men he sent to work in the hills, and they 
brought great stones to lay for a foundation. And they laid 
the foundation within the walls of Jerusalem, upon Mount 
Moriah. 

So he built the temple and furnished it. The walls and 
the floor were made of cedar, and on the walls, both inside 
and out, were wonderful carvings of angels and palm trees 
and open flowers. Then he overlaid the whole building 
with pure gold. He built an altar, and overlaid it with gold. 
And next to the altar he built a place to set the ark of God 

7Z 



74 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

upon. He had made from the olive tree two angels, and 
covered these also with gold. The wings of the angels were 
so long that they touched the walls on both sides of the 
room. They were placed so that the ark of God could stand 
between them. 

King Solomon spent eleven years in building the temple, 
and when it was finished he called together the chief men of 
Israel, and they brought the ark of God from Mount Zion, 
which is another part of the city where David had lived. 
The priests brought the ark and placed it in the inner room 
between the two angels. And when the priests came out of 
the holy place, the glory of God filled the temple, and all the 
people of Israel with King Solomon before it. 

And the king turned to the people and blessed them. 
Then he turned and kneeled before the altar and raised his 
hands to heaven, and in a beautiful prayer, he said, ''Oh 
Lord my God, harken to the prayer of thy servant and of thy 
people Israel, when they shall pray towards this place : and 
when thou hearest, forgive." 

When the king had finished praying, he stood up and 
blessed the people with a loud voice. 

So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the 
house of the Lord. Then he sent the people away, and they 
blessed the king and went to their tents joyful and happy 
of heart for all the goodness that God had done. 

After the beautiful temple was built, the wisdom and 




WHEN THE QUEEN OF SHEBA CAME TO VISIT SOLOMON, SHE WAS ASTONISHED AT HIS MAG- 
NIFICENCE 



KING SOLOMON BUILDS A TEMPLE 75 

glory of King Solomon was spoken of in many countries. 
And the Queen of Sheba heard of this wonderful king, and 
she came to Jerusalem with camels and spices and gold and 
precious stones for a gift to the king. And when she saw 
his wonderful palace and his many servants and the rare 
food upon his table, and when she had seen how very wise 
he was, she was surprised, and glad that she had come. 
Then after she had visited for a little while, and given won- 
derful presents to the king, she and all her servants went 
back to their own country. 



XXVII 

THE STORY OF ELIJAH 

WHEN Ahab was king over Israel, he and all the 
people became very wicked, and they forgot the 
real God and worshiped an idol called Baal. 
Now there was a prophet named Elijah who still loved God, 
and God sent Elijah to king Ahab to tell him that he was 
going to punish the people by not sending any rain to the 
land while they were so wicked. So far a long time no rain 
fell and the rivers and brooks dried up, and the people had 
not enough water to drink. Then od told Elijah to go to 
a brook near the River Jordan, and there he found water to 
drink, and the birds brought him food to eat. 

After a little while that brook also dried up, and God told 
Elijah to go to the city, and there he would find a woman 
who would give him food and drink. 

So Elijah went, and as he came to the city gate he saw 
a woman gathering sticks. He asked her for some water 
and a little food, and the woman said to him, "I have only a 
handful of meal left in a barrel, and a little oil. I am gather- 
ing these sticks to cook a cake for myself and my little boy. 

After that we must die because we have nothing more to eat." 

76 



IS- 




'ELIJAH DWELT ALONE IN THE WILDERNESvS. THE RAVENS BROUGHT HIM FOOD AND HE DBUNK 

THE WATER OF THE BROOK' 



78 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

But Elijah said, ''Go and bake me a cake, and after that, 
make one also for yourself and your son, for God has 
promised if you do this, that he will keep meal in your barrel 
and oil in your cruse until he sends rain to the earth so that 
food will grow again." 

So the woman did as she was told, and as fast as she used 
the meal, more came into the barrel. And for a long time 
Elijah stayed with her and they had plenty of food. 

One day the woman's little boy became ill and died, and 
she came to Elijah and told him that her son was dead, and 
he said to her, ''Give me your son.'' 

He took the child to his own bedroom and laid him upon 
the bed. Then three times he stretched himself upon the 
body of the child, and he called to God and said, "Oh Lord 
my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him 
again." 

And life came again to the child, and Elijah took him 
down to his mother and said, "See, thy son is alive." 



XXVIII 

ELIJAH GOES TO HEAVEN IN A 
CHARIOT OF FIRE 

ONE day Elijah went to king Ahab and he told the 
king to call together the children of Israel, and 
when they stood before him he asked them why 
they did not worship the real God instead of the idol, and he 
said to the people, ''Let the priests of the idol bring two bul- 
locks, and we will make two offerings, one to God, and one 
to the idol Baal; and we shall lay wood upon the altars, and 
our offering upon the wood. Then the priests of Baal shall 
call to their god, and I will call on the Lord, and the real 
God will send fire to His offering. By this you will all 
know who is the real God." 

So the priests of Baal put their offering on an altar. 
Then from morning until noon, they prayed to the idol, but 
it was not God, and so no fire came. 

The Elijah put his offering upon the other altar, and he 
poured water upon it, and he called to God and said, ''Hear 
me, oh Lord, hear me, that this people may know that you 
are the Lord God.'' 

79 



8o A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

Then God sent fire and burnt up the offering and the 
wood and even the stones of which the altar was made. And 
when the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, 
'Tlie Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God." 

After that they prayed to the real God, and God sent rain 
once more to the land, and grain grew again in the fields, 
and the people were happy. 

One day Elijah went out with a good man whose name 
was Elisha and fifty men went with them. When they came 
to the River Jordan, Elijah struck the water with his mantle 
and the river parted and he and Elisha crossed over on dry 
land, but the other men stayed on the other side and watched 
them. And as they watched, God sent a chariot and horses 
of fire, and Elijah went in the chariot up to heaven. 



XXIX 

THE STORY OF QUEEN ESTHER 

ONCE upon a time there lived a great king named 
Ahasuerus, and he had a feast made ready and 
asked every one at the palace to the feast, and he 
showed the people all the wonder of his riches. After the 
feast had lasted for several days, he sent seven of his chief 
ministers to the queen and asked her to put on her royal 
crown and come and stand before him so that all the people 
might see how beautiful she was. But Queen Vashti would 
not do as the king asked, and they told him that she would 
not come. 

Then the king was very angry and said to his ministers, 
''According to the law, how may I punish the queen for not 
coming when I sent for her?" 

They said to the king, "Let her no longer be your queen, 
but let us bring some young maidens before the king, and 
let him choose one from among them to be his queen." 

The king and princes were pleased when they heard this, 
and said to bring the maidens to the palace. 

At the king's palace lived a Jew whose name was Mor- 



8i 



82 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

decai. For many years he had taken care of his cousin 
Esther because she was young and her father and mother 
were dead. When Mordecai heard that the king wanted to 
choose a beautiful maiden for his wife, he called Esther and 
sent her with the others, to stand before king Ahasuerus. 
And when the king saw her, he loved her and made her his 
queen. 

One day as Mordecai was sitting at the palace gate he 
heard two men planning to kill the king, and he went to 
queen Esther and told her that the king's life was in danger. 
So the queen told the king, and the bad men were hanged. 
And it was written in the king's book, that Mordecai had 
saved his life. 

Living at the king's palace, was a vain, proud man whose 
name was Haman. He was one of the king's chief ministers, 
and as he went about the palace and gardens the people 
bowed before him. But Mordecai the Jew^ would never bow 
to Haman as he passed him when he went through the palace 
gates. And Haman grew very angry when he saw that 
Mordecai would not even rise, when he passed. And be- 
cause Mordecai was a Jew, he decided to have all the Jews 
in that part of the country killed. 

So Haman went to the king and told him that there were 
some people in the land who did harm to the country because 
they would not obey the king's laws, and Haman said to 
him, 'If it please the king; let it be written that all of these 




AS SOON AS THE KING SAW HER HE CHOSE HER AS HIS QUEEN 



C- 



THE STORY OF QUEEN ESTHER 83 

Jews are to be killed, and I will see that the thing is done." 

And the king believed what Haman told him and said 
that he might have all the Jews killed. Then Haman had 
papers written and sent to all the towns and cities in that 
country, saying that on the thirteenth day of the twelfth 
month the Jews must die. 

When Mordecai heard of this he went and stood outside 
of the king's gate and wept, and Esther's maids came and 
told her of it. And Esther sent for Mordecai, but he would 
not go in; but sent her the paper telling of the day that the 
Jews must die. He told Esther's minister to 3 k her to go 
to the king and ask him to save the lives of her people, for 
the queen, too, was a Jew. So the queen sent word again 
to Mordecai, that she would ask the king to help her. 

Then the queen dressed herself in her most beautiful 
royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's house. 
King Ahasuerus was sitting on his throne, and when he 
saw the queen standing before him, he held out to Esther 
the golden scepter that was in his hand. And he asked 
her why she had come. 

Esther told the king that she wished him to bring Haman 
with him, and come to a feast that she had made for them. 

When Haman heard that the queen had asked him with 
the king to her feast, he was very happy and told his friends 
all about it. *'But," he said, "with all this honor shown to 
me, that Jew at the gate never bows before me." 



84 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

And his friends said, **Let a gallows be made, and to- 
morrow when you sjee the king, ask him to have Mordecai 
hanged upon it/' 

That night the king could not sleep, and he asked to have 
the book of records read to him, and as they read they told 
of how Mordecai had saved the king's life by warning him 
when the two men planned to kill him. And the king said 
to the man who was reading, ''What honor was given to 
Mordecai for saving my life?" 

The servant answered, ''Nothing was done for him." 

And the king said to his servant, "Who is in the court?" 
and he answered, "Haman is waiting in the court." 

And the king said, "Let him come in." 

So Haman came in, and the king said to him, "What 
shall I do for a man whom I wish^to honor?" 

Now Haman thought to himself, "It must be I whom the 
king wishes to honor, so he said, "Let the royal robes which 
you used to wear be put upon this man, and let your crown 
be placed upon his head; then seat him upon the king's 
horse and let one of your most noble princes lead this man 
through the city streets and say to the people. 'Thus shall 
it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honor.' " 

Then the king said to Haman, "Make haste and take the 
robes and my horse and place Mordecai, the Jew, upon it, 
and lead him through the streets." 

Haman was angry when he knew that it was the Jew 



THE STORY OF QUEEN ESTHER 85 

whom the king had been speaking of, but he did as the 
king told him and led him on the king's horse through the 
city. 

After Haman went home and sat telling his wife what 
had happened, a messenger came and told him to hurry to 
the queen's feast. 

So he went with the king to the queen's table, and as they 
sat eating and drinking, the king said to Esther, ''What can 
I do to please you?" 

Esther answered, ''Oh king, let my life and the life of my 
people be saved, for in a little while, every Jew is to be 
killed." 

And the king said, "Who is he, and where is he, that dares 
to do such a thing?" 

Then the queen said, "He is seated here at the table with 
us; it is this wicked Haman." 

Then Haman was afraid before the king and queen. 
And the king rose from the table in his anger. And his 
servants told him that Haman had built a gallows to hang 
Mordecai, and the king ordered the servants to take Haman 
and hang him instead. 

Then the king made Mordecai one of the chief men at 
his palace, and he changed Haman's order so that none of 
the Jews were harmed. And queen Esther and all of her 
people lived happily in that country. 



XXX 

THE STORY OF DANIEL 

IN the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of 
Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, came 
to Jerusalem and made war against the children of 
Israel and took the city. And Nebuchadnezzar made the 
king of Judah his captive, and he took the gold and silver 
cups from the house of God and brought them to his own 
city. And he sent one of his chief men to bring to the king's 
palace at Babylon, the wisest of the princes of Israel. So 
they brought Daniel and three other children from Jerusa- 
lem, to live at the king's palace. 

Some years after this, king Nebuchadnezzar had a strange 
dream, and he sent for his wise men, and said to them, ''Tell 
me what I have dreamed, and tell me the meaning of the 
dream." 

And the wise men said, "Oh king, live forever; tell us 
your dream, for we cannot tell you its meaning, unless 
you tell us first, what you have dreamed." 

Then the king was angry and said, "I will not tell you 
what I dreamed, because you will not give me the true 
meaning of it. If you can first tell me what I dreamed, 

86 



THE STORY OF DANIEL 87 

and will then tell me what it means, I will know that you 
are speaking the truth. But if you cannot do this, I will 
have you all killed and your houses destroyed/' 

But none of the wise men could answer, and word was 
sent through the city that all the wise men must die. 

When Daniel heard this he went to his three friends, 
Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego; and told them to pray 
that God would tell them the dream, and the meaning of it. 
And one night God told Daniel what the king had dreamed. 
And in the morning Daniel went to one of the king's chief 
men, named Arioch, and said to him, ''Do not kill the wise 
men of Babylon, bring me before the king and I will tell 
him the meaning of his dream." 

So the man took Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar, and Daniel 
said to him, "The wise men could not tell you the meaning 
of your dream, but there is a God in heaven who has sent 
you this dream to show you what will come to pass. 

"In your dream you saw a great bright image, it stood 
before you and the form of it was terrible. The head of the 
image was of fine gold, his breast and arms of silver, his 
thighs of brass, his legs of iron, and his feet were part of 
iron and part of clay. And as you looked, a great stone 
struck the image that was made of iron and clay, and it 
broke them to pieces. Then the whole image fell down and 
broke into tiny pieces and the wind blew them away. But 
the stone which struck the image became a great moun- 



88 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

tain and filled the whole earth. Now that is your dream, 
and the meaning of it is this: God has given you a great 
kingdom and power and glory. Wherever men live, you 
are ruler over them all. In your dream the image was sent 
to show how the kingdom would change. You are the 
golden head of that image, and after you, another king not 
as great as you will rule, after that a third kingdom of brass, 
then a forth kingdom which shall be as strong as iron, and 
the feet and toes of the image which w^ere of iron and clay 
shall be a divided kingdom, partly weak and partly strong ; 
and as iron and clay will not mix, neither shall the people 
of that kingdom live peacefully together. And in those 
days the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall 
never be destroyed: it shall break to pieces these other king- 
doms, and it shall stand forever. God has made known to 
the king w^hat shall come to pass." 

Then the king fell on his face and worshiped Daniel. 
And he made him a great man in his kingdom. And Daniel 
asked the king to help his three friends ; so he set Shadrach, 
Meshech and Abednego, over the affairs in Babylon. 

One day Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold and 
put it in the plain of Dura. And he sent word to all the 
people that when they heard the cornet and flute and the 
harp and all kinds of music, they must bow down and wor- 
ship the golden image. The king said if they did not wor- 
ship the image, they should be thrown into a fiery furnace. 



THE STORY OF DANIEL 89 

So when the music sounded, most of the people did as 
the king commanded, but some of his servants saw three men 
who would not pray to the image. And the servants came 
to the king and said, "There are three Jews whom you 
have set over the affairs of Babylon, and when the music 
sounded, they would not worship the image that you have 
set up.'' 

Then the king was very angry because the three men, who 
were Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego, had not obeyed 
him. And he told his servants to heat the furnace seven 
times more than it had been heated. Then they took 
Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego and threw them into 
the fire. The fire was so hot that the servants who threw 
them in, were killed by the flames. 

In a little while the king looked into the furnace and he 
said to some of his men: '^Did we not throw three men into 
the fire?" 

And they answered, "True, oh king." 

And the king said, "I see four men loose, and walking in 
the fire, and the fire does not burn them, and the form of the 
fourth man is like the son of God." 

Then Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego, came out of the 
fire, and not even the hair on their heads was burned. And 
the princes and governors and captains looked at them in 
surprise. 

Then Nebuchadnezzar, the king, said, "Blessed be God 



90 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

who has sent his angel and delivered his servants v^ho trusted 
him." 

After that the king was kind to them and made them great 
men in Babylon. 

But as the years passed Nebuchadnezzar grew more and 
more wicked. He thought that he was greater than God. 
At last, God had to punish him, and he made Nebuchadnez- 
zar forget that he was a man. His mind became like that 
of a beast, and he left his wonderful palace and lived out of 
doors in the fields. The rain fell upon him, and for food 
he ate the grass of the fields. 

At last Nebuchadnezzar knew that God was greater than 
any man. He saw that God could make the great king of 
Babylon become like an animal, and that God alone could 
rule over all things. So the king was sorry for his sins, 
and he lifted his eyes to heaven and worshiped his creator. 
Then God sent the king back to his palace to live again like 
a man, and to rule once more over Babylon. 



XXXI 

BELSHAZZAR'S FEAST 

WHEN king Nebuchadnezzar died his son Bel- 
shazzar became king of Babylon. And Bel- 
shazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his 
friends. While they were drinking wine, the king sent for 
the gold and silv ^ cups that had been biought from "-he tem- 
ple of God at Jerusalem, and they drank from the temple 
cups. 

As they sat feasting, a hand appeared and wrote upon the 
wall some strange words. And the king saw the hand as 
it wrote and he became frightened and called his wise men 
to ask the meaning of it, but no one could tell him. Then 
the queen told Belshazzar how Daniel had told the meaning 
of the dreams of his father, and the king sent for Daniel and 
said to him, "If you can tell me the meaning of the writing 
upon the wall, I shall have you clothed in scarlet and made 
third ruler in my kingdom.'* 

Then Daniel answered and said to Belshazzar, "Oh king, 
God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father, glory and honor, 
and all nations feared him, but when he became proud and 

91 



92 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

did not fear God, God took away his kingly throne and took 
his glory from him, and he was driven out to live in the fields 
with the wild asses; and he ate grass like the oxen, and his 
body was wet with the dew of heaven until he learned that 
God ruled on the earth and that the king was only God's serv- 
ant. And you, his son, oh Belshazzar, have not humbled 
your heart, although you knew what happened to your 
father. You have lifted yourself up against the Lord of 
heaven, and have brought the cups from the Lord's temple 
to use at your feast. You have sung praises to gods of silver 
and gold and brass. Such gods cannot see, nor hear, nor 
know, and the real God, in whose hand your breath is, him 
you have not praised. Then God sent His hand to write 
upon your wall, and the meaning of that writing is this, 
*God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. Thou 
art weighed in the balance and found wanting. Thy king- 
dom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.' " 

When Daniel had finished speaking, the king had a scarlet 
robe put upon him and a gold chain put around his neck. 
And he made him third ruler in his kingdom. 

That night a man named Darius came from an enemy 
country, and with his soldiers he took the city of Babylon 
and king Belshazzar was slain. 



XXXII 

DANIEL IN THE LIONS' DEN 

WHEN Darius became king over Babylon he put 
over the kingdom one hundred and twenty 
princes to help him rule over the people. Over 
the princes he put three presidents, and Daniel was the chief 
man among them. All the business of the city was brought 
to him by the princes. 

Now the princes hated Daniel because the king was so 
good to him. And they tried to see if Daniel had done any 
wicked deed that they might tell it to the king. But they 
could find nothing against him. They knew that Daniel 
was a good man and that he prayed each day to God; so they 
went to the king and said to him, ''King Darius, all the 
presidents and princes and governors have talked together, 
and have written that whoever shall ask anything of God or 
man except of you, oh king, he shall be cast into the den of 
lions. Now, oh king, sign this writing that it may become 
a law, and may not be changed." 

So the king signed, and it became a law that for thirty 
days no man should pray except to the king. 

Now when Daniel knew that the writing had been signed, 

93 



94 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

he went into his house to pray, and he prayed to God three 
times each day. 

Then the men who hated Daniel, came to his house and 
found him praying to his God, and they went to the king and 
told him that Daniel had broken the law. 

Then the king was sorry, because he loved Daniel, and 
he tried all that day to think of some way to save him. But 
in the evening the princes came to him again and said, ''The 
law of the Medes and Persians is, that no law which the king 
has made, can be changed." 

Then the king had Daniel brought and they cast him into 
the den of lions. And the king said to Daniel, ''Your God 
whom you serve so well, he will save you.'* 

Then the king returned to his palace, but he could not eat, 
and all that night he lay awake thinking of Daniel. And 
early in the morning he dressed and hurried to the lions 
den. When he drew near, he was very sad, and he cried 
to Daniel, "Oh Daniel, servant of the living God, is the God 
whom you serve able to save you from the lions?'' 

Then the king heard Daniel's voice, and Daniel said to 
the king, "Oh king, my God has sent His angel, and has 
shut the lions' mouths, and they have not hurt me." 

Then the king was very glad and told the servants to take 
Daniel from the lions' den. And they took him out and 
found that he was not hurt in any way because he had trusted 
and believed in God. 



XXXIII 

THE STORY OF JONAH 

THERE was once a city named Nineveh, and the 
people who lived in it were very wicked. So God 
spoke to his servant Jonah and told him to go to 
that city to teach the people how to be good. 

But Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh, and he tried to 
hide from God, so he went down to Joppa, to the seashore, 
and found a ship that was going to Tarshish. He paid his 
fare and went to sea in the ship. 

When they had been sailing for a little while, God sent 
a storm over the sea; the wind blew, and the great waves 
rose, and the sailors were afraid that the ship would go to 
pieces and that they would all drown. And one of the 
sailors said, *' Let us cast lots that we may know whom to 
blame for this awful storm." 

So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. And the 
sailors said to Jonah, ''Tell us why this evil has come to our 
ship?'' 

Then Jonah told them that he had run away and had not 
done as God told him, and the sailors said, "JVhat shall we 
do to you to make the sea calm again." 

95 



96 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

Jonah was sorry because he had made them all suffer, and 
he said to them, *Take me and throw me into the sea, for the 
storm is on the water, because I am here." 

But the men did not want to do this, and they tried and 
tried to row the ship to the shore, but they could not. When 
they saw that they could not reach the shore, they took Jonah 
and threw him into the sea, and at once the wind stopped 
blowing, and the storm ceased. 

But God was there on the water, and He sent a whale to 
swallow Jonah, and Jonah lived in the whale's stomach for 
three days. Then the whale swam to the shore, and opened 
its mouth, and Jonah was cast out upon the dry land. 

After this he did as God told him, and went to Nineveh 
and told the people that because they were so wicked, God 
was going to destroy the city. 

Then the people were sorry and began to be good, and 
the king came down from his throne, and took off his royal 
robes, and sent word to all the people that they must pray 
to God and ask Him to save them and their beautiful city. 

God was sorry for them because they were not wise, and 
because they were trying to be good, so He saved their city. 




JONAH WAS GIVEN ANOTHER CHANCE, FOR A GREAT FISH SWALLOWED HIM, AND FOR THREE 

DAYS HE WAS ALIVE WITHIN THE FISH 



THE NEW TESTAMENT 

OF 

OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR 

JESUS CHRIST 



99 



XXXIV 

WHILE SHEPHERDS WATCHED 
THEIR FLOCKS 

ONE night, long, long ago, two travelers stopped 
at the door of a little inn that stood in the town 
of Bethlehem. One was a young woman who 
rode on the back of a donkey, and beside her a man walked. 

They had come a long way and the woman was very tired, 
but when they asked to spend the night at the inn, the keeper 
told them that there was no room for them and that they 
would have to go farther. Then when he saw how tired the 
young woman looked, he said to the man, whose name was 
Joseph, ''I have a nice warm stable, if you and your wife 
will sleep there, you may do so." 

So Joseph and his wife Mary, went to the stable to sleep. 

In the night a wonderful thing happened to Mary : God 
sent a little baby to her, and this baby was God's own son. 
And the mother wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid 
him in a manger. 

That same night some men were in the fields watching 
their sheep. The night was quiet and the sheep were quiet, 



lOI 



^ 102 A NURSERY STORY OF. THE BIBLE 

so the men (who were called shepherds) sat down on the 
grass to talk together, and while they were talking the sky 
above them opened and a wonderful light shone on them, 
and they were afraid. Then the beautiful voice of an angel 
said to them, 'Tear not, for I bring you good tidings of great 
joy." Then the angel told them that a Savior, who was 
Christ the Lord, was born that day in the city of David. 

Now, a savior is some one who will save people. People 
who are bad, or poor, or who need help in any way. 

The angel told them that they would find the baby in a 
stable, lying in a manger. Then, while they were listening, 
the sky was filled with angels, and they sang with their 
beautiful voices, ''Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, 
peace, good will toward men.'' 

When the angels had finished their song and gone again 
into heaven, the night was once more quiet and only the 
moon gave them light. So the shepherds began talking of 
the wonderful things they had heard, and they said, "The 
angel told us that this baby was born in Bethlehem. Let 
us go quickly into the town and see this thing that God has 
told us of." 

^ Then the shepherds hurried into the town and found, lying 
in a manger, the little baby Jesus. There he lay in a stable 
with the cows and donkeys in some of the stalls, and his 
mother was leaning over him, smiling. The shepherds 
looked at God's little son and they felt very happy. After 




LET US GO NOW, THEY SAID, EVEN UNTO BETHLEHEM, AND SEE THIS THING WHICH IS COME 

TO pass' 



.WHILE SHEPHERDS WATCHED 103 

they had knelt beside him and worshiped him they went 
out again into the night. 

While they were walking back to the fields where they 
had left their sheep, they sang glad songs and thanked God 
for all that they had heard and seen that wonderful Christmas 
night. 



XXXV 

MARY NAMES HER BABY JESUS 

A WEEK after the angels had told the shepherds that 
Christ was born, Mary gave her baby his name. 
Long before this baby was born an angel had 
come to Mary and told her that God was going to send her 
son to her, and that when he came she must name him Jesus. 
So the little baby was given his name. 

One day when the weather was warm and little birds sang 
in the sunshine, Mary and Joseph took the little Jesus on a 
journey. They walked for six miles along the road which 
ran through the green fields. And where do you think they 
were going to take this baby who was only a month old? 

They took him to a big church in a city called Jerusalem. 
They wished to take him to God's house to thank Him for 
sending that sweet baby to them. 

While they were in the church, an old man called Simeon 

came and stood beside them, and when he saw the little baby 

he knew that this was God's son, and he took Jesus in his 

arms, and in a beautiful prayer he thanked God for His 

goodness. 

104 



XXXVI 

THE STORY OF THE THREE WISE 

MEN 

MANY months after the little baby had been born 
in a manger, three Wise Men came riding into 
this Holy Land. They came riding on the 
backs of camels, and they looked very beautiful in their 
white robes and had come a long way. 

One night, far away in their own country, these Wise 
Men had seen a wonderful star shining in the sky. It was 
much brighter and larger than any other star, and it shone 
for the first time on Christmas night; and the Wise Men 
said, ''This star shines in the West which is the land of the 
Jews, by this we know that the King, God's Son has been 
born. Let us take gifts with us and go and find this King." 

So they rode on their camels and followed the star for 
many nights, and at last came to the city called Jerusalem. 

There they stopped and asked where the baby King lived. 
They said to the people, "We have seen his star and have 
come to worship him." 

But no one on the street had heard of the little king, so 
the people sent them to King Herod. 

103 



io6 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

Now King Herod was a wicked man, and when the Wise 
Men told him about the baby king, he was angry be- 
cause there was another king in the land. And to the three 
Wise Men, he said, '1 do not know where he is, but go and 
look for him, and when you find him, come to me again and 
tell me/' 

Now King Herod wanted to kill the baby king, but he did 
not tell this to the Wise Men, so they started again on their 
way, and that night the big star shone again in the sky and 
the Wise Men were glad. The star went before them to the 
little town of Bethlehem and stopped. It would go no 
farther, but shed it's wonderful light over the little town. 

So the Wise Men stepped down from their camels, taking 
with them the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh which 
they had brought for the baby king. 

And when they went in and found the little Jesus these 
great Wise Men did what the shepherds had done. They 
kneeled beside this little child and worshiped him. 

In a dream God told them not to let King Herod know 
where the little king was, so they went back to their homes 
another way. 



XXXVII 

THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT 

ONE night after the Wise Men had gone away, while 
Joseph slept, he had a strange dream. He 
dreamed that ail angel came to him and told him 
that the king who lived in the big city called Jerusalem was 
a bad man and wanted to kill little Jesus. And the angel 
told Joseph to take the child and his mother into another 
country, into the land of Egypt. 

So Joseph, with the baby and his mother, went away that 
same night while it was dark. Mary rode on the back of a 
donkey and kept her little one all nice and warm in her arms. 
So they went from their home by the long roads which 
wound over the hills, and took them far away. 

The baby with his mother and Joseph lived in Egypt until 
king Herod died. Then one night God again sent an angel 
to Joseph while he slept, and the angel told Joseph in a dream 
that the bad king was dead and that he could take the young 
child and his mother back to their own country. 

So they left the land of Egypt and went back to Galilee 

to a little town called Nazareth. 

107 




AN ANGEL SPOKE TO JOSEPH AND TOLD HIM TO GO AT ONCE DOWN INTO EGYPT WITH HIS 
WIFEAND THE BABY, FOR HEROD WOULD DO HIS BEST TO KILL THIS NEW-BORN JESUS 



XXXVIII 

CHRIST TALKS WITH THE PRIESTS 

IN THE TEMPLE 

JESUS lived for a long time in Nazareth. He was not 
a little baby now; he was quite a big boy and used to 
help Joseph in his carpenter shop. Often his mother 
sat and watched him while he worked. She used to think, 
"What a sweet, good boy my little Jesus is, and what a beau- 
tiful, kind face he has." 

All the little boys and girls who played with Jesus loved 
him too. Wherever he went he seemed to make people 
happy. 

One day when he was twelve years old, Mary and Joseph 
took Jesus on a long journey to Jerusalem, because the 
temple was there. And once every year they went to this 
big church to attend, the Feast of the Passover. The Feast 
of the Passover was like our Thanksgiving day, but, instead 
of lasting only one day, this holiday lasted a whole week. 

The children who were old enough to go with their fathers 
and mothers to Jerusalem used to have a merry time on the 

way. When they started on the road that led to the city a 

109 



no A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

great many people from the town went with them. And 
when they felt hungry all that great company of people left 
the road and sat down in the green fields to eat together. 

The moon was always bright at this time of the year, and 
as it took several days to travel from Nazareth to Jerusalem 
the people would sing beautiful songs as they sat in the moon- 
light before going to sleep. 

One morning after the light crept back to the world they 
could see the great church a long way off, and knew that 
they were nearing the city; and very large and beautiful it 
looked, there in the sunlight. 

At last Jesus, with Mary and Joseph and all the people 
who had come with them, reached the city and went to God's 
house, which stood on one of the many hills inside of the 
city walls. 

They spent a whole week there in the city, going each 
day to God's house for a little while, and visiting people 
they knew, the rest of the time. 

At last the time came for them to start home, and hundreds 
and hundreds of people left the city that day. Jesus was not 
with Mary and Joseph when they passed through the city 
gates, but his mother thought that he was with some of the 
little friends who loved to play with him. So they traveled 
all day without him. 

They had gone over the Mount of Olives and were almost 
to another town before they noticed that their little boy was 



CHRIST TALKS WITH THE PRIESTS in 

not with the company. Mary and Joseph went in and out 
among the people on the road asking about their little boy, 
but no one had seen him. 

It was dark by this time and Mary became frightened, so 
she and Joseph hurried back to Jerusalem. 

They looked for three or four days for the little boy. 
They searched in this street and that, asking at the houses 
of all of their friends, but no one had seen Jesus. 

On the third day after they had been looking for him, 
they went to the temple, and there they found him sitting 
with the wise old men who taught there, and he was both 
hearing them and asking them questions. And every one 
who heard this wonderful little boy talk, was surprised at the 
questions he asked and the wonderful answers he gave when 
the wise men spoke to him. 

When his mother saw Jesus she felt sorry that he could 
sit there so happily when she had looked so long for him and 
had been so afraid that he was lost. And she said to him, 
"Son, why did you go away from us like this? Your father 
and I have been very sad these last three days while we looked 
for you.'' 

Jesus looked at them out of his lovely clear eyes and said, 
''Did you not know that I must be about my father's busi- 
ness?" 

Then a sweet smile came to his face and he took Mary's 
and Joseph's hands and went with them back to Nazareth. 



XXXIX 

JESUS IS BAPTISED 

WHEN Jesus grew older he became a very good 
man. He spent all of his time helping people 
who were sick and unhappy. 

A beautiful river flowed in this holy land where Jesus 
lived. Beside this river another good man used some times 
to talk to the people. 

This man was called John the Baptist, and God had sent 
him to tell all the people that Christ was coming. 

For many years the Jews had been waiting for Christ to 
come. They thought that when he came they would be a 
free nation ; that Christ would be king, and that they would 
no longer be ruled by one who was not a Jew. 

John said to them, ^'Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make 
his paths straight.'' 

The people would listen to John and would tell him that 
they wanted to be good and to be ready to follow Christ 
when he came. Then they would go to the edge of the 
river and John would baptise them. 

One day as John talked to the people a young man came 
to him and said that he too would like to be baptised. 

112 



JESUS IS BAPTISED 113 

When John looked at the young man and saw his beau- 
tiful face he knew that Christ was speaking to him. So they 
went to the water's edge and John baptised Jesus. 

As Jesus started to leave the water, the sky above him 
opened and a beautiful white bird flew to him from heaven, 
and the voice of God spoke and said, "This is my beloved 
Son, in whom I am well pleased." 



XL 

THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 

JESUS had twelve friends who were called disciples, 
who went everywhere with him. They helped him tell 
the people about God. And the sick people would 
come, and Jesus would put his hands on their heads and 
make them well. 

One day Jesus had been very busy. First he had gone up 
on a mountain and a great many people had followed him 
there. And he talked to them and taught them how to say 
the Lord's Prayer. He spoke to them for many hours; he 
told them how to be good and how to make other people 
happy. 

He said that people were like trees, and that all good trees 
brought forth good fruit, and that trees that were not good, 
could not bring forth good fruit. 

He said that the people who heard him tell how to be good 

and then went away and tried as hard as they could to be 

good, were like a man who built his house on a rock; for 

when the wind and rain came and blew against that house, 

it would not blow down, because, being built upon a rock, it 

114 



THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 115 

was very strong. "But," he said, "the man who hears what 
I say and does not do what I say, is like a man who built 
his house on the sand, and when the rain came and the wind 
blew, that house fell because it was not strong/' 

All the people were surprised at the wonderful things he 
said. And when he finished speaking and came down from 
the mountain, they still followed him. 

A sick man came to him and said, "Lord if you will, you 
can make me well." 

And Jesus put forth his hand, saying, "I will; be thou 
well." 

And at once the man was made well. 

When the evening came on many, many people brought 
their sick to him. They brought old people and little child- 
ren, and every one who needed help. And after Jesus talked 
to them and laid his hands on them, they were made well. 

But some still stayed to hear him speak. When Jesus saw 
that they waited, he asked his friends, Peter and James, and 
John, and a few others, to go with him in a boat and sail to 
the other side of the sea. 

It was evening now and after this busy day Jesus was very 
tired, so he lay down in the ship and fell fast asleep. 

While he slept a great storm arose. The rain came down, 
the thunder rolled, and the waves of the sea came right into 
the boat. But still Jesus slept. 

Then his friends were afraid and called to Jesus to awaken 



ii6 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

him, and when he was awake they said to him, ^'Master, 
do you not care if we die?" 

The ship was full of water by this time, but he stood up and 
said to them, ''Why are you afraid?" And he spoke to the 
wind and the sea and said, "Peace! Be still!" 

And the wind stopped blowing, and the water became so 
still that it no longer went into the boat. And the little 
ship went safely to the shore. 



XLI 

THE STORY OF FIVE LOAVES AND 

TWO FISHES 

ONE day Jesus heard that one of his friends (who 
was called John the Baptist) had been killed by- 
King Herod. When he heard this, the master 
felt so sad thtt he went in a ship to a quiet place in the 
country. 

But when the people heard that he had gone away they 
left the cities and towns and walked for many miles into 
the country where Jesus was. 

Now when Jesus saw this great crowd, he went out to 
them, and because he was always kind, he made well all those 
who were sick. 

Many hours he stayed there helping the people, and in 
the evening his friends came to him and asked him to send 
the people away so that they could go into the towns and buy 
food for their suppers. But Jesus said to his friends, ''You 
need not send them away, they are tired. Give them some- 
thing to eat." 

Then his friends said to him, ''There are over five thou- 
sand people here, and we have only five loaves of bread and 

117 



ii8 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

two small fishes. How can we feed so many with so little 
food?" 

But Jesus told all the people to sit down on the grass. 
Then he asked his friends to bring the five loaves of bread 
and the fishes to him. And he took them in his hands, and 
looking up into heaven he asked God (his Father) to help 
him. Then he broke the bread and gave it and the fishes 
to his friends. And they took it to the people where they 
sat on the grass, and over five thousand people ate their 
supper there in the fields. And when they had finished, 
they gathered up of the food that was left, enough to fill 
twelve baskets. 



XLII 

JESUS WALKS ON THE WATER 

AFTER Jesus had fed the people, he asked his friends 
to go in the ship to the other shore. He said that 
he would stay there, and send the people back 
to their homes. 

After the people went away Jesus went up into a mountain 
to pray. He stayed there in the mountain talking to God 
until night came on. By this time his friends in the boat 
were out in the middle of the sea. 

Jesus waited, and when it grew a little later in the night 
he went out to meet his friends, and he walked on the water 
all the way from the shore. When his friends saw him walk- 
ing on the sea they did not know at first who it was, because 
you see no one had ever before walked on the water, and 
they were afraid. But when they saw his face and his beau- 
tiful smile, and when he spoke to them and said, ''Be of good 
cheer, it is I ; be not afraid," then they knew it was Christ. 

His friend Peter said, "Lord if it is you, tell me to come 
to you on the water." Peter thought that he, too, would 
like to walk on the waves. 

So Jesus said to him, ''Come." 

1 19 



120 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

Peter climbed out of the ship and began walking on the 
water to where Jesus stood. But when he had gone a little 
way the wind blew, the waves rose very high and Peter was 
afraid and began to sink into the water, and he called to 
Jesus to save him. Then Jesus reached out his hand and 
caught Peter, and said to him, ''Oh you of little faith, why 
did you doubt me?'* 

Then Jesus and Peter climbed into the boat and the wind 
stopped blowing and the water became quiet. And they 
sailed to the shore and left the boat. 

When the men of that place knew that Jesus had come, 
they sent out to all parts of the country and brought to him 
all who were sick. And so many came to him that some 
were able only to touch his clothes, and they too, were made 
well. 



XLIII 

THE LITTLE DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS 

ONCE while Jesus was in his own city, one of the 
rulers (whose name was Jairus) came to him and 
worshiped him, and said, ''My little girl is lying 
dead in my house, but if you will come and lay your hand 
upon her, she shall live." 

So Jesus and his friends went with the man to his house. 
And when he went in, the little girl's mother and all of the 
servants were crying and making a loud noise. Jesus told 
them to stop crying. He said that the little girl was not 
dead, but asleep. 

Then the people laughed at Jesus and said that he did 
not know the difference between sleep and death. 

But when the people were put out of the room Jesus went 
in and took the little girl by the hand and she stood up alive 
and well. 



121 



XLIV 

JESUS IS TRANSFIGURED 

ONE day Jesus took three of his friends, Peter, James, 
and John, up into a high mountain away from all 
the people. And suddenly Jesus' face became 
very beautiful and shone like the sun, and his clothes be- 
came as white as snow. And as his friends looked, they 
saw talking with Jesus, two men, Moses and Elias (men who 
had died hundreds of years before Jesus came to the earth). 

Then said Peter to Jesus, *'It is good for us to be here." 

While he was speaking, a bright cloud covered these three 
friends, and the voice of God spoke out of the cloud and 
said, "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased; 
hear ye him." 

When the three friends heard God's voice they were afraid 
and fell on their faces. Then Jesus came and touched them 
saying "Arise, do not be afraid." 

When they stood "up and looked, Moses and Elias had 
gone, and Jesus stood there alone. 

After Jesus came down from the mountain, he stopped to 
heal a sick boy and to talk to the people. And as he was 



122 



JESUS IS TRANSFIGURED 123 

speaking, a man stood up and said, **Master what shall I do 

that I may live forever?'' 
Jesus said '*What is written in the Bible?" 
The man answered, that he must love God most of all, and 

must love his neighbor as himself. 

Jesus said "Do this, and you shall live." 

''But," the man said, ''who is my neighbor?" 

To make him understand who his neighbor was, Jesus 

told him a story. 



XLV 

THE STORY OF THE GOOD 
SAMARITAN 

A CERTAIN man went from Jerusalem to Jericho, 
and he fell among thieves, who hurt him and took 
all of his money and clothes and left him lying 
half dead on the road. 

A little while after this a priest came down the road, and 
when he saw the poor sick man he passed on to the other 
side of the road and left him lying there. 

Then another man, when he came to that place, looked at 
him, and he too left him and passed on to the other side. 

But a third man (a Samaritan) as he journeyed, came 
to where the man lay, and when he saw him he felt sorry 
and went to him and wrapped clean cloths around his 
wounds and put the sick man on his donkey and took him 
to an inn, where he fed him and took care of him. The next 
day when the good Samaritan had to go away he gave money 
to the man who owned the inn and told him to take care of 
the sick man. And he said, ^'Whatever you spend more than 
this; when I come again I will pay you." 

''Now," Jesus said, 'which do you think of the three men 

was neighbor to the sick man?" 

124 



THE STORY OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN 125 

And the man answered, *'the one who showed mercy and 
helped him.'' 
Then Jesus said, "Go and do as this man did." 



XLVI 

THE STORY OF THE PRODIGAL SON 

JESUS went through the cities and villages, teaching the 
people, and journeying towards Jerusalem. And a 
great many gathered around him to hear him, and he 
told them a story to show them that they must love and for- 
give people who have been bad, and must give them a chance 
to try again to be good. He said to them : 

A certain rich man had two sons, and the younger son 
said to his father, ''Father, some day I know that you will 
give all of your money to my brother and me, but I would 
like to have my share now." 

So their father gave each son his share of the money. 

Not many days after this, the younger son took all that 

his father had given him and went away into a far country, 

and there he spent all of his money and became very very 

poor. He grew so hungry that he asked a man on a farm 

to hire him. So the man hired him and sent him into his 

fields to feed the swine. Now there was very little to eat in 

that country, so the Prodigal son had to eat the food that 

was given to the swine. 

126 




THE PRODIGAL SON WAS SENT INTO THE FIELD TO FEED THE SWINE 



128 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

One day as he sat in the fields he said to himself, ''At home 
in my father's house even the servants have more than they 
want to eat, and I am almost dead from hunger. I will arise 
and go to my father, and will say to him, father I have sinned 
against heaven and before you, and am no more worthy to be 
called your son. Make me as one of your servants." 

And he arose and came to his father. But while he was 
yet a great way off his father saw him and was sorry for him 
and ran to him and put his arms around his neck and kissed 
him. And the son said, ''I am not good, I am not worthy to 
be called your son." 

But the father said to a servant, ''Bring the best clothes 
and put them on him, and put a ring on his hand and shoes 
on his feet, and put on the table good things to eat, and we 
will have music and will be merry. For I thought that my 
son was dead, but he is alive. He was lost, and now is 
found." 

And they began to be merry. 

Now the older son had been out in the fields, and as he 
came near the house and heard the music and dancing, he 
called a servant and asked why every one seemed so happy. 

The servant said, "Your brother is here and every one is 
happy because he is home safe and sound." 

Then the older brother was angry and would not go in; 
so his father came out to him, and the son said, "Father, 
for years I have stayed at home to work for you and have 



THE STORY OF THE PRODIGAL SON 129 

always done what you asked of me. And you have never 
had these good things to eat and music and dancing for me 
and my friends. But when this son who went away from 
you, comes back again, you give him all of these things." 

Then the father said, ''Son, you are always with me and 
all that I have is yours. It is right that we should be merry 
now, for I thought your brother was dead, and he is alive! 
he was lost, and is found." 



XLVII 

THE STORY OF LAZARUS 

IN a town called Bethany lived a young man and his 
two sisters whom Jesus loved very much. The young 
man's name was Lazarus, and one sister was called 
Mary and the other Martha. 

Once when Jesus was in another part of the country, 
Lazarus became very sick and his sisters were frightened 
and sent word to Jesus saying, ''Lord, he whom thou lovest 
is sick." 

Now although Jesus loved Lazarus, he did not hurry to 
Bethany, but stayed where he was for two days longer. 
Then he said to James and John and his other friends, "Let 
us go to Judea again." 

His friends knew that the Jews in that country hated 
Jesus, and that once before when he was there they had tried 
to kill him, so now they did not want him to go. 

But, you see, Mary and Martha had sent for him and he 

knew that they needed his help. So he said to them, ''Our 

friend Lazarus is asleep, but I will go that I may waken him 

out of his sleep." 

130 



THE STORY OF LAZARUS 131 

They said to him, "Lord if he is asleep, it is well that he 
can rest." 

But Jesus meant that Lazarus had died. Then he spoke 
more plainly to them and said, '* Lazarus is dead." 

So they journeyed towards Bethany, and as they drew near 
the town Jesus learned that Lazarus had lain in the grave 
four days. 

Some people who heard that Jesus was coming, ran and 
told Mary and Martha that he would soon be in Bethany. 
As soon as Martha heard that Christ was coming she hur- 
ried out to meet him, and when she saw him she said, ''Lord, 
if you had been here my brother would not have died. But 
I know that even now, whatever you will ask of God, God 
will give you," 

And Jesus said comfortingly to Martha, ''Your brother 
shall rise again." 

When Jesus finished speaking to her, Martha left him and 
went and called Mary and said, "the Master is here and is 
calling for you." As soon as Mary heard this, she rose 
quickly and went to Jesus. 

Jesus had not come into the town, but had waited where 
Martha met him. When Mary came to him, she fell, cry- 
ing at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here my 
brother would not have died." 

When Jesus saw Mary and her friends crying, he too felt 
very sad. And he said, "Where have you laid Lazarus?" 



132 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

And they answered, '*Lord, come and see." And as they 
went he wept. 

When the Jews saw this, they said, '^See, how Jesus loved 
him." 

Then they came to the grave. (It was a cave, and a stone 
lay before it.) And Jesus said ''Take away the stone." 

Then raising his eyes to God, he said, ''I thank you. Father, 
because you have heard me, and I know that you hear me 
always." Then he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come 
forth." 

And the man who had been dead came out into the sun- 
shine, and Mary and Martha clasped their dear brother in 
their arms. 



XLvm 
TEN LEPERS ARE HEALED 

FOR several weeks now, as Jesus had been healing the 
sick and teaching the people, he had been traveling 
through the towns and cities which led to Jeru- 
salem. 

And because so many people had learned to love Jesus 
and to follow him, the priests and rulers of the country be- 
came afraid that the people would make him their ruler, so 
these men hated Jesus and said that they would put him to 
death. 

Jesus knew that the rulers wished to kill him, but because 
he loved the people more than he did himself, he did not go 
away, but stayed to make them well and to teach them to love 
one another. . 

As he was going towards Jerusalem and passed through a 
certain village, ten lepers met him. Lepers are people who 
are sick with a disease called leprosy and they know that no 
doctor can make them well. So when they saw Jesus they 
called to him and said, "J^sus, Master, have mercy on us/' 

133 



134 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

And when Jesus saw them he said, '*Go and show your- 
selves to the priests." 

So they started down the road to go to the church, and as 
they went their sickness left them, and they were well men. 
And one of them when he saw that he was well, turned back, 
and in a loud voice he praised God, and he kneeled at Jesus' 
feet and thanked him. 

And Jesus said, ''Were there not ten men made well? 
Are you the only one who thanks me; where are the other 
nine? Arise," he said, ''and go your way; your faith has 
made thee whole." 




'suffer the little children to come unto me: for of such is the kinodom of god' 



XLIX 

JESUS BLESSES THE LITTLE 

CHILDREN 

IN this part of the country, as in every part that Jesus 
visited, the mothers had heard of this good man who 
spent all of his time helping people, and they had heard 
that more than any one else he loved little children. So one 
day they came to him, bringing their little boys and girls, 
leading some of them by the hand, and carrying the very little 
ones in their arms. 

When his friends saw all these children coming they told 
the mothers to go away; that Jesus was busy. But Jesus 
wanted the little children ; he was never too busy to love them, 
so he said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me and for- 
bid them not; for of such is the kingdom of heaven." 

So he took them In his arms and laid his hands on their 
heads and laughed and talked with them. 



139 



THE STORY OF THE FIRST PALM 

SUNDAY 

THE season of the Passover was drawing near, and 
Jesus and his friends started toward Jerusalem. 
Very different this journey was from the one that 
his mother and Joseph had taken him on, to attend the Feast 
of the Passover, about twenty years before. Now he would 
enter the city, a man who had finished his work, who had 
helped every one he met to live a better life. 

Great crowds of people were traveling along the road to 
spend the week at Jerusalem. Some of them slept in the 
fields, some in the houses of friends along the way. 

When Jesus and his friends reached Bethany (which is 
only a few miles from Jerusalem) he stayed at the house of 
his friend Lazarus. The next day, while Jesus was eating 
his supper in the house of a man named Simon, Mary, the 
sister of Lazarus, came to him, and breaking open a beauti- 
ful box poured a sweet smelling ointment on Jesus' feet and 
wiped his feet with her hair. 

Now among Christ's twelve friends (who were called 
apostles) was a man called Judas Iscariot. This apostle 

did not really love Jesus, and when Mary poured the oint- 

136 



STORY OF THE FIRST PALM SUNDAY 137 

ment on his feet, Judas said that she was wasting it, and that 
she should have sold it and given the money to the poor. 

Jesus knew that before long the rulers would kill him, so 
he said, ''she has anointed me for my burial." 

The next day was Sunday, and people at the church in 
Jerusalem were talking about Jesus. Some said, ''Do you 
think that Jesus will come to Jerusalem for the Passover?" 
and others answered, "No, he will be afraid to come because 
if he comes here the rulers will take him, and will kill him." 
But still others said that he was on his way to the city, now. 
And it was so. 

While the people at the church were speaking of him, 
Jesus and his twelve apostles were on the road near one of 
the small towns, and Jesus said to two of his friends, "Go to 
the edge of the town and you will find there a donkey tied 
by the door of a house, untie it and bring it to me." 

So they went to the town and found the donkey. And the 
owner of it asked them what they were doing with his 
donkey, and the apostles said, "The Master needs it." 

So the man knew that his friend Jesus wanted the donkey 
and he let them lead it away. Then, for a saddle his friends 
put their cloaks on the donkey's back, and seating Jesus on it, 
they rode towards Jerusalem. 

As they passed down the road, hundreds of his friends 
came to meet him. Many of the people whom he had made 
well ran down the road beside him. They cut down palms 



138 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

from the trees and waved them in the air, they laid their 
clothes and some of the palms on the road for Jesus to walk 
on. They went along, with Jesus riding in their midst; 
they went laughing and singing, ''Hosanna, Blessed is he 
who Cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the 
highest." 

When he came into the city and the people there heard the 
singing, they said, ''Who is this?" and the people with him 
answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Gali- 
lee." 

Then Jesus went into the temple, and people were sitting 
there in the house of God selling things, and changing 
money. When Jesus saw this, he was very angry, and he 
sent them from the temple, and said to them, ''It is written, 
My house shall be called the house of prayer, and ye have 
made it a den of thieves," 

Then the lame and the blind came to him and he made 
them well. 

When the priests and rulers saw the wonderful things that 
he did, and heard the people praising him, they were very 
angry. 

And Jesus left them and went again to Bethany, and 
spent the night there. 



LI 

THE LAST SUPPER 

EACH day for the next three days, Jesus went to the 
temple in Jerusalem to talk to the people and to heal 
them, and each day the priests became more and 
more angry. But they were afraid to take him in the day- 
time because the people loved him so. 

At last the priests met in a room to talk together to see 
how they could take Jesus to kill him, and as they were talk- 
ing a servant came to them saying, ''a man is waiting outside 
who says he is one of Jesus' apostles.'' 

When the man came in and the priests saw his bad cruel 
face they were surprised. Then Judas said, "How much 
money will you give me if I show you where to find Jesus 
at night so that you can take him while the people are 
asleep?" 

The priests were glad when they heard this, and said, 
'*We will give you thirty pieces of silver." 

Then this bad man went back again to Jesus, to God's 
son, whom he had sold for thirty pieces of silver. 

On Thursday the feast of the Passover began. Jerusalem 

139 



140 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

was crowded with people, for that night every one who 
could do so would eat their supper in the city. 

On Thursday morning his friends had said to Jesus, 
^'Where shall we go to eat the Passover, in whose house shall 
we find a room and a table for our supper?'' 

And Judas listened for the Master's answer, because he 
wanted to tell the priests where Jesus would be that night. 

But Jesus knew that he was listening and, in a low voice 
so that the rest could not hear, he told Peter and John to go 
into the city and there they would see a man carrying a 
pitcher of water. He told them to follow this man and when 
he went into a house they must go in too, and say to the 
owner, *'The master says: 'where is the guest chamber 
where I shall eat the Passover with my friends?' " 

And Peter and John went into the city and did as Jesus 
told them, and made the room ready for the supper that night. 

When the darkness came on Jesus and his friends left the 
Mount of Olives and went into Jerusalem and up to the 
room to eat their supper. 

While they were eating, Jesus took bread and, when he 
had thanked God for it, he broke it and gave it to his friends 
saying, *'Do this in remembrance of me." Then he took 
the cup and, passing it to his friends, said, *'Do this as often 
as you drink it in remembrance of me." 

When they had finished supper, Jesus took a towel and, 
pouring some water into a basin, he began to wash the feet 



THE LAST SUPPER 141 

of his apostles. He did this to show them that they must 
never be too proud to help one another. His friends knew 
that if we truly love God and our fellow-men we need never 
be ashamed to do anything that will make people better and 
happier ; no matter how humble that work may be. 

He talked with them for a long while, and told them that 
soon the rulers would kill him. 

Then Judas rose up quickly and went out into the night 
to tell the priests where they would find the Lord. 

A little longer Jesus sat talking with his friends ; he told 
them that in a little while he would leave them, and that 
where he went they could not come. 

And Peter asked Jesus where he was going, and he ans- 
wered, ''Where I go you cannot follow now, but later you 
shall follow me.'' 

Then Peter said, ''Lord, why can I not follow you now?" 

Jesus looked at him sadly and said, "Peter, before the cock 
crows this day, you will say three times that you do not know 



me. 



Then they left the house and went to the Mount of Olives. 



LII 

IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE 

THE moon was shining as they passed through the 
quiet streets. They left the city and followed the 
road down a hill and over a bridge which crossed 
a little stream. When they had crossed the brook, they 
came to a garden called Gethsemane. 

Then Jesus said, ''Sit ye here while I go and pray yon- 
der." 

Then he took Peter and James and John farther into the 
garden with him. And he grew very very sad and said to 
them, *'My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; 
tarry ye here and watch with me." 

And he went alone a little farther into the garden and 
kneeled there and talked to God, and said, ''Oh my Father, 
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me ; nevertheless, not 
as I will, but as Thou wilt." 

And he went back to his friends and found them asleep ; 
and he said to Peter, "Could you not watch with me one 
hour?" 

He went away again and spoke to God, saying, "Oh my 

142 



IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE 143 

Father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I 
drink it, Thy will be done." 

And he went and found his friends again asleep, and he 
left them and spoke once more to God. 

Then returning to them, he said, ''Rise, let us be going." 

They went a few steps and waited, and Judas Iscariot came 
into the garden with the soldiers, and he said to them, ''He 
whom I shall kiss; that is Jesus. Hold him fast." 

And he came to Jesus and said, "Hail Master," and kissed 
him. 

Then the soldiers took hold of Jesus, and Peter took his 
sword and smote a servant of the high priest and cut off one 
of his ears, but Jesus said, "Put your sword away again in 
its place." Then they led him out of the garden and back 
to Jerusalem. 

But all of Jesus friends were so frightened that they left 
him, and ran away. 




STRAIGHT TO JESUS WENT JUDASj MASTER, MASTER, Hfi KiCLAlMED AS IF GLAD TO SEE HIM, 

AND KISSED HIM 



LIII 

GOD'S SON IS QUESTIONED BY THE 

HIGH PRIEST 

ALTHOUGH it was late at night, many people 
heard the soldiers as they passed with Jesus 
through the streets, and they ran to their doors and 
asked whom they had taken, and when the soldiers answered 
that it was Jesus of Nazareth, they left their houses and 
followed him to the palace of the high priest. 

The priests were all ready and waiting when Jesus was 
brought in. But when they questioned him, Jesus stood be- 
fore them and said nothing. 

Then the High Priest asked him if he were the Son of 
God, and Jesus answered that he was. And the High 
Priest said to the others, "What do you think?" and they 
answered, "He is guilty of death, because he says that he is 

the Christ." 

Now in another part of the palace Peter sat. He felt 
ashamed that he had run away, so he had come back to be 
near Jesus. 



145 



146 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

And a girl standing beside Peter said to him, "You were 
with Jesus of Galilee, you are one of his friends." 

But Peter was again afraid, and said, "I do not know what 
you are saying/' 

When he went out into the porch, another girl saw him 
and said, "This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth." 

Peter said, "I do not know the man." 

In a little while some people standing on the porch said 
to him, "Surely you are one of Jesus' friends, you speak like 
a man from Galilee." 

But he said again, "I do not know the man." 

Then suddenly he heard a rooster crow, and he remem- 
bered that Jesus had told him that before the cock crowed, 
Peter would say three times that he did not know him. And 
he went out and cried bitterly. 



LIV 

THEY CRUCIFY HIM UNDER PONTIUS 

PILATE 

ON Friday morning when it grew light, they took 
Jesus to Pontius Pilate. He was the ruler, and 
unless he allowed it, the priests could not put a 
man to death. So they brought him before Pilate, who asked 
them, ''What has he done, that you want him to be killed?" 

And the Jews answered, "He says that he is the King of 
the Jews.'' 

Pilate said to Jesus, "Are you the King of the Jews?" 

Then Jesus told Pilate that he was a king, but that he did 
not live in a palace or wear a crown. God had sent him to 
be a new kind of King. He kept nothing for himself, but 
gave always of his great gift of love. 

When he finished speaking Pilate went out again to the 
Jews and said, "I find no sin in him at all." 

Then the Jews were very angry. And Pilate said, "What 
shall I do with Jesus which is called Christ?" 

And the Jews answered, "Let him be crucified. Let him 
be nailed upon the cross." 

"But," Pilate said, "what has he done that is bad?" 

147 



148 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

And they cried in a louder voice, "Let him be nailed upon 
the cross/' 

When Pilate found that they would not listen to him, 
he took water and washed his hands in the sight of all the peo- 
ple, and said, 'T will not kill this good man, you must do 
it without my help." 

So the soldiers took Jesus away. And they made a 
crown of thorns and put it on his head. They put upon him 
a robe — such as only kings wear — and they mocked him and 
said, "Hail, King of the Jews," and they struck him with 
their hands. 

Then they took Jesus and led him away to be killed. As 
they went, they met a man from the country and they gave 
him Christ's cross to carry. Then they went on to a place 
called Calvary, where they nailed him to the cross. 

And Pilate wrote a sign which they put upon his cross, 
and the sign read: "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the 
Jews." 

On the same hill they crucified two men who were thieves. 
They placed their crosses, one on the right of Jesus' cross 
and the other on the left. 

One of the thieves called to Jesus and mocked him, and 
said to him, "If you are the Christ, save yourself and us." 

But the other thief said to the one who mocked, "Do you 
not fear God, seeing that you are punished in the same way? 
We should be punished for we have been wicked men, but 



THEY CRUCIFY HIM \ 149 

Jesus has done nothing wrong." And he said V Tpsus 

\ -J * 

"Lord, remember me when you come into your kingV^^/' 

Jesus said to the man, "Verily I say unto thee, to-day shvlt 
thou be with me in paradise/' 

As he saw the soldiers and people standing on the hill be- 
neath his cross he called to God and said, ''Father, forgive 
them, for they know not what they do." 

Even when they had done this to him he felt sorry for them 
because they were so bad. 

Now, standing before his cross, Jesus saw his mother, and 
beside her was his friend John, whom he loved. And Jesus 
said to his mother, "Behold thy son/' And he said to John, 
"Behold thy mother." 

He meant that John was to be a son to Mary when Jesus 
was gone. So John took Mary to his own home and took 
care of her. 

Then Jesus spoke once more to God and said, "Into thy 
hands I commend my spirit." So Jesus died. 

And they took him from the cross and laid his body in a 
cave, which is called a tomb, and a large stone was placed 
before the opening of the tomb, and two soldiers stood there 
to guard so that no one could go in or go out from it. 



LV 

"THE LORD IS RISEN" 

SATURDAY was a long sad day for the friends of 
Jesus. They thought of him lying there in the tomb, 
and it seemed to them that they could never be happy 
again. They remembered all the beautiful things that he 
had said to them, and his many kind deeds. He had been 
with them so long, and they had loved him so dearly; and 
now this wonderful man, this Son of God, had died like 
the two thieves who were crucified with him. 

At last the long day passed, and very early on Sunday 
morning two of Christ's friends (Mary Magdalene and an- 
other Mary) went to visit his grave. As they entered the 
garden where he had been buried, one woman said to the 
other, ''How shall we roll away the stone that was placed in 
front of his tomb? We cannot move it, it is too heavy." 

But as they drew near and looked, they saw that the stone 
had already been rolled away. Then they ran quickly to 
the tomb, and looking in, thought at first that it was empty, 
but as their eyes grew accustomed to the darkness inside, 
they saw two angels in long white robes. 

ISO 




WHEN THEY CAME TO THE TOMB, THE STONE WAS ALREADY ROLLED BACK, AND IN ITS PLACE 
AN ANGEL WHOSE COUNTENANCE WAS LIKE LIGHTNING AND HIS RAIMENT WHITE AS SNOW 



"THE LORD IS RISEN" 151 

The angels said to them, "Why seek ye the living among 
the dead? He is not here; but is risen. Have you forgot- 
ten that he told you how the rulers would kill him, but that 
on the third day God would again give him life?'' 

When the angels finished speaking the women hurried 
from the garden, and ran to the house where his apostles 
were staying, and told them of the wonderful things they had 
heard and seen. 

But his friends could not believe that Jesus was really alive 
again, so Peter and John said they would go to the garden 
to see for themselves. Now John could run faster than 
Peter, and so reached the garden first, and stooping down he 
looked into the tomb, but saw nothing. Then Peter came, 
and he and John went in together. 

But Christ was not there; the tomb was empty; and lying 
folded beside the grave were the linen cloths that he had 
worn. 

So they went out into the beautiful morning, but although 
the sun was shining and the little birds singing and the 
whole garden was full of happiness, they did not feel it, but 
left the garden wondering why the grave was empty and 
what had become of Jesus. 

Mary Magdalene did not go with Peter and John when 
they left the garden, but stayed there beside the tomb, weep- 
ing very bitterly, and Jesus came and stood beside her and 
spoke to her, but because her eyes were full of tears, she did 



152 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

not know him. She thought he was the man who took care 

of the garden. 
And Jesus said to her, "Why do you weep? For whom 

are you looking?" 
And she answered "Oh, sir, if you have taken Jesus away, 

tell me where you have laid him." 

Then he said to her, "Mary." 

She turned and looked at him and knew him ; and she said 
to him, "My Master," and knelt at his feet. 

He told her not to touch him, but to go to the city and tell 
his friends that he had risen from the dead. 

So Mary hurried back to Jerusalem and told the apostles 
that Jesus was alive and had spoken to her in the garden. 



LVI 

THE WALK TO EMMAUS 

IN the afternoon of that first Easter Sunday, two men 
left the city to walk to a little town called Emmaus. 
They had been in Jerusalem for the feast of the Pass- 
over, and knew how their friend Jesus had been put to death. 
As they walked along talking together of these things, they 
were so unhappy and looked so sad that every one who passed 
turned to look at them. 

By and by they left the crowded city behind them and 
walked along the quiet country road, and there Jesus joined 
them. He asked them what they were talking about and 
why they looked so sad. But they were so worried and un- 
happy, that they did not see that it was Jesus who walked 

with them. 

They said to him ''Are you a stranger in Jerusalem, and 
so have not heard how Jesus of Nazareth was put to death? 
This is the third day since he died, and this morning when 
Marv Mao-dalene visited his tomb, he was not there, and 
she said that she saw two angels who told her that Jesus 
had risen from the dead, and we do not know what to think." 

153 



154 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

Then Jesus told them the things that had been written 
about him in the Bible hundreds of years before. And as 
they drew near Emmaus, Jesus started to walk on but the 
two men said, ''Stay with us, for it is almost evening, and the 
day is far spent." 

So he went into their house, and as they sat down to supper, 
he took bread, and when he had blessed it, he broke it, and 
as he handed it to them, they looked at him and knew that 
he was Christ. And quietly, without a word, he left them. 

The two men left the table at once, and they said to one 
another, ''Did not our hearts feel glad while he talked with 
us on the way? How was it that we did not know him?'' 
And they hurried back to Jerusalem and found the apostles, 
and said to them, "The Lord is risen indeed." And they 
told all that had happened to them. 

As they talked, Jesus himself came into the room and said, 
"Peace be unto you." 

But they looked at him and felt afraid. They thought to 
themselves, "Can he really be alive again?" Just because 
they were so glad it seemed to them that this could not be 
their Lord. 

Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to them, "Be- 
hold my hands and my feet," and he stretched out his hands 
and showed them the scars that the nails had made. 

Then they knew that this must be Christ; who had died 
and risen again from the dead. 



Lvn 

JESUS RETURNS TO HIS FATHER 

AFTER that glad Easter day, Jesus was often with 
his friends. 
One day he told them that he was going to leave 
the world and go again to heaven, to be with his Father. 
But he told them that although they would not be able to 
see him, his spirit would be always with them. He told 
them that God would help them, and that they must go 
to all of the cities and towns and teach the people to love and 
help one another. 

Forty days after Jesus had risen from the dead, he led his 
friends out of Jerusalem as far as Bethany, and as he stood 
talking to them, all the beauty and strength of his nature 
seemed to shine in his face. He asked them to tell the 
people about his life and death. If people could really know 
that another man had loved so greatly that he had spent all 
of his time healing the sick and helping the poor, he felt 
that they too would be glad to serve others whenever they 
could. 

Then he lifted up his hands and blessed them, and as they 

155 



156 A NURSERY STORY OF THE BIBLE 

looked, God lifted him up, a cloud from die sky covered him, 
and he was taken into heaven. 

As the friends of Jesus stood looking up into the sky, 
two men in white robes stood beside them and said to them, 
*'You men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into 
heaven? Some day when people have learned to love him, 
Jesus will come again to the earth." 

Then his friends went to the cities and towns and told peo- 
ple everywhere how Christ had spent his life teaching people 
how to love their f ellowmen. 



THE END 



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